The Butler Grizzlies football team finished the regular season with a monumental victory on Saturday in Garden City, defeating the 10th ranked Broncbusters, 24-23.
The Grizzlies battled blustery winds and penalty problems all day, turning in a gutsy performance in a huge win at Broncbuster Stadium for their fourth consecutive victory. With the win, Butler improves to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in Jayhawk Conference play. They finished the season undefeated on the road and will secure the third seed when the conference playoffs start next week.
Butler started the game well, receiving the opening kickoff and taking the ball 75 yards on six plays to open the scoring, the drive punctuated by Paris Brown's 3-yard run. The Grizzlies tacked on another touchdown in the 2nd quarter, when Adarius Thomas found the end zone from 4-yards out. Despite giving up a touchdown with 13 seconds left in the half, the Grizzlies took a 14-10 lead into the third quarter.
In the second half, the Grizzlies defense would step up with their best performance of the season. Butler mustered just a field goal in the third quarter, but held serve, only giving up a touchdown after a fumbled punt gave Garden City great field position. Garden City came into the game averaging 215 yards of rushing offense and finished the day with just 80. The Grizzlies also forced three sacks, with Chester Geffrard recording two of the sacks, and as a team the Grizzlies totaled 10 tackles for loss.
Tim Schaffner's defense also came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game, with MJ Cunningham jumping in front of a pass and forcing an interception when the game was tied and all the momentum seemed to be going towards Garden City. On the next drive, Butler would go for it on 4th down and quarterback Gavin Screws would find Daveon Robinsion in the end zone from 24 yards out to regain the lead, 24-17. Garden City would answer with less than two minutes left, but an excessive celebration penalty and a missed extra point would prove to be the difference, as Butler recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock to secure the victory.
The Grizzlies had another stellar game on the ground, rushing for 191 yards on the day. Adarius Thomas starred again, totaling 89 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. Passing yards came tough for Butler but Gavin Screws managed to be 11-23 on the day, with 111 yards and connecting with Robinson for the biggest touchdown of Butler's season.
With the win, Butler secures the third seed in the playoffs, and will prepare for a rematch with Dodge City at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex next Sunday, November 7th at 1:00pm. The Grizzlies defeated the Conquistadors in the first encounter, 30-20 back in September.
GAME NOTES: Butler now takes a one game lead in the Butler vs. Garden City all-time series now at 42-41-3 and improve to 16-19 in games played at Garden City…Schaffner collects his second win over Garden City as head coach and first road win over Broncbusters… Garden City is now 0-3 at home this season…Most penalty yards for the Grizzlies (10 penalties 115 yards) in a win since September 16, 2017 vs Iowa Western (21-19)…Butler's 191 rushing yards in the most against a Garden City defense this season and most since Butler rushed for 283 yards during the matchup in the spring of 2020…First win in Garden City since 2014 when they won 56-6.