A late touchdown sunk the Butler Grizzlies football team, as they saw their 2021 season ended at the hands of the Garden City Broncbusters, 27-16, on the road in the semifinals of the Jayhawk Conference playoffs.
Butler got on the board first, blocking a punt that went out of the end zone to force a safety, giving the Grizzlies the first two points of the game. Both offenses had trouble finding success, but in the second quarter Karter Johnson made a leaping grab on a 24 yard pass for the first Grizzlies touchdown, but Garden City answered with a touchdown of their own to end the half with a 17-9 lead over the Grizzlies.
After an early Broncbuster field goal in the third quarter, Jordan Kempf got open and Gavin Screws found him for a huge 60 yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to just four.
The game was settled by two decisive fourth down red zone plays. The Grizzlies got the stop they needed after finding the end zone, and drove down the field all the way to the Broncbuster goal line before they were stopped on fourth down. Late in the fourth quarter, with the Grizzlies needing a stop to get the ball back, Garden City found the end zone on fourth down on a 10 yard pass that would be the late dagger.
Quarterback Gavin Screws had another nice game in the losing effort, finishing 10-22 for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Kempf starred with three receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. The Grizzly offense played well enough to win but couldn't get past getting called for 15 penalties, and also giving up two fumbles.
Defensively, Blake Barron played an incredible game, ending the day with 15 tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. The Grizzlies defense sacked the quarterback for a total of four times, and gave up just 79 yards of offense. Butler held Garden to just three of 16 on third down, but the Broncbusters seemed to get all the big plays they needed, going four of six on fourth down conversions, and that would prove to be the difference for Garden City's offense.
With the semi final loss, Butler's season ends and they will finish with a record of 1-9.
