Great Bend and Garden City are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2014, but not for long. The Great Bend Panthers will face off against the Garden City Buffaloes at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Great Bend will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Great Bend is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Kansas' top teams: Hays, who was ranked 22nd in their home state at the time (Great Bend was ranked 13th). Great Bend blew past Hays 21-0 on Friday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Panthers have posted against the Indians since September 9, 2016.
A big part of Great Bend's victory came down to the chemistry between Daxton Minton and his top target Ian Premer. Minton rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries while Premer rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries. Minton got the majority of those rushing yards when he took off on a run that went for an incredible 63 yards.
Meanwhile, a win for Garden City just wasn't in the cards on Friday as the squad wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They came up short against Dodge City, falling 40-14.
Great Bend pushed their record up to 7-0 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Garden City, they have been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-5 record this season.
Great Bend strolled past Garden City in their previous meeting back in October of 2023 by a score of 35-21. The rematch might be a little tougher for Great Bend since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
