Jayhawk conference play opened with a clash with rival Garden City on the gridiron and the Dodge City football team would find it tough as the struggles piled up leading to a tough loss to the Broncbusters.
The Conquistadors dropped the KJCCC opener 38-9 to Garden City moving to 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in KJCCC action.
Under the lights, the Conqs started with the ball but it would be a rough start with a fumble on the first play leading to a short field for Garden City as they recovered the fumble. Four plays after the Conqs turnover Garden City found the endzone and took an early 7-0 advantage. The Conqs' woes would continue with a struggle to move the ball and would trail 14-0 after the first quarter. Garden City continued to grow their lead with 14 more points in the second stanza while the Conqs went into halftime trailing 28-0.
In the second half, the Conqs tried to change things up but the struggles continued as Garden City took advantage of Conqs miscues and turnovers to score 10 more points in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, the Conqs would get on the board on a seven-play drive covering 62 yards that was capped by a three-yard touchdown run by
Chris Fitzpatrick but the extra point snap was bad leaving the Conqs with just six points. The Conqs would add a 42-yard field goal to finish the scoring in the contest as the contest ended 38-9.
The Conqs would be outgained in the matchup 358 to 151 total yards and plagued by five turnovers in the contest while forcing only one turnover by the Broncbusters.
On defense,
Sam Brooks recorded 9 tackles on the day, while Fitzpatrick had eight tackles including a tackle for loss.
Tory Gethers,
Noah Williams, and
Jamari Mosley each recorded five tackles.
Kaleb Gray would force a fumble while
Antonio Delgado recovered the fumble for the Conqs. Offensively,
Gavynn Parker threw for 90 yards, while
Kerya Powell had three catches for 47 yards.
The Conqs turn their attention to their first road game of the season in the third game of the year as they will travel to Council Bluffs, Iowa to play the defending NJCAA National champions, Iowa Western on Saturday, September 14th at 1:00 pm.
