Broncbusters Football Visits Bitter Rivals in Week Six

GARDEN CITY, KS. – Last week’s game felt like another one the Broncbusters could’ve walked away with. The defense stood stout time and time again, with three and outs throughout and a late fourth-quarter interception.

This week, the Broncbusters know they need more from their offense, in a game that could change their fortunes around.

Garden City visits No. 15 Dodge City for their sixth game of the season, third in conference play. The Conquistadors come in ranked for the first time in six seasons, while Garden City comes off being shut out in week five.

“We gave the game away. We had the ball inside the 20 three times,” Broncbusters head coach Tom Minnick said. “We had a couple of nice runs that got tripped up. If we just got one of those, we win the game.”

Garden City (2-3, 1-1 KJCCC) entered week five with the best red zone offense in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference going into last week. The Broncbusters had converted roughly 83% of their red zone drives for touchdowns in the first five weeks, but two interceptions and a turnover on downs kept GCCC off the scoreboard.

Last week’s 3-0 loss was the first time Garden City had been shut out in 12 years, and the first time one of Minnick’s teams had been blanked. 

The fifth year coach has seen more in his illustrious career to be concerned about the numbers.

“You look at different games, even when I was against Garden City, at Arizona Western,” Minnick said. “The stats don’t mean a thing. We just have to keep playing, and get better at what we do.”

Dodge City (2-2, 2-0 KJCCC) enters first in the conference after road wins over Coffeyville and Highland in weeks two and three, respectively. Head coach Terry Karg was in this same position last season, but the Conqs would close the year with just one win in their final six, including a 40-7 Broncbusters win last October.

This year, Dodge’s defense has been lights out, giving up the second-fewest points in the conference, only behind No. 1 Hutchinson. In a primetime rivalry matchup, coach Minnick knows exactly what his team needs to change from last week.

“Turnovers, that’s been a major thing with us,” Minnick said. “When you look at Iowa Central, we turned the ball over. Last week, we turned the ball over. We’ve been in the game, but if we don’t turn the ball over, we’re still in the game.”

Coverage begins from Memorial Stadium at 6:30 with the American Implement Pregame Show. Kickoff between the Broncbusters and Conquistadors is set for 7:00 on KWKR 99.9 ‘The Rock’.