It finally happened.
Newton's First Law of Motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest until acted upon by an outside or unbalanced force, and Sir Isaac was proven right once again Friday at Memorial Stadium. The Dodge City High School Red Demon football team forced the hatchet from its 13-year rest inside the halls of Garden City High School with its 22-16 win over the Buffaloes and ended the longest winning streak enjoyed by either team in the storied rivalry in the process.
The win also set up a first-round playoff matchup with 8-1 Wichita Heights Friday Nov. 7 at Heights.
"It means a lot," said senior fullback Tyler Goolsby after the game. "We just ended a 13-year losing streak."
"Excitement," said junior tight end/linebacker Laton Dowling when asked what he felt after the game. "We just got the hatchet back."
And they did it with the run. Statistically, the Demons threw the ball 30 times and ran it 28 times, but the only reason they were able to control the clock for most of the game and take those 58 snaps was a running attack that came alive behind the blocks of right tackle Jesse Trent and right guard Mason Pooler, who returned to the lineup Friday after a foot injury that put him on the sideline for five weeks.
Demon coach Justin Burke threw another wrinkle into the game equation by installing Bruce Campbell into the offense as a running back. The sophomore's role in the Demons' defensive game plan has increased in the second half of the season, but he left his mark on the offensive side of the ball of the Hatchet Game as well.
His line may only read 13 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown, but after establishing himself in the backfield early, Garden City defenders began to key in on the rumbler as Dodge drove down the field in the second quarter.
Late in the quarter, after Campbell had ripped off chunks of yardage at a time, the Demons went to Goolsby on the 3-yard line for their second touchdown that put the Demons up 14-0 at halftime.
"We didn't have a lot in for that package," Burke said of running his defensive end on offense. "It was just our guys getting after their guys."
The Demons got after the Buffaloes early, which Burke said earlier in the week would be a key for the Demons to get the win. Though the game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter, the Demons came out early in the second and threw the first punch of the match.
Quarterback Ty Thomas threw a pass up on the first snap of the second quarter that looked to be underthrown to junior receiver Landon Head. As Buffalo cornerback Andy Larkin sat under it and waited, Head leapt and wrestled it away from behind and trotted into the end zone to get the Demons on the board.
Thomas found a wide open Jason Kirchman for the two-point conversion that put the Demons up 8-0. Senior cornerback Jordan Slaton came up large on defense in the first half with three passes defended and a blocked punt to help keep the Buffaloes scoreless.
"Slaton stepped up for us," Burke said. "He got benched last week, and he responded. He's a good corner, and he made some plays tonight."
"We didn't deal with adversity well enough in the first half," said Buffalo coach Mike Smith. "We just couldn't dig ourselves out of the whole we dug for ourselves early."
But they would try. After a three-and-out and Campbell's 3-yard rushing touchdown that followed, the Buffaloes used special teams and a stout running game of their own to make the game interesting late in the third quarter.
Strong safety and kick off specialist Zach Harvey had to make two touchdown-saving tackles after long Buffalo kickoff returns in the third quarter.
"Our kickoff scares me every time we do it, and I think that's really what gave them the momentum late in the game — the big kickoff returns," Burke said. "He's our safety man on that, and he made some good tackles out there."
Harvey ended the night with eight tackles, two of which were for a loss.
After a short Red Demon third quarter punt, Buffalo running back C.J. Covington took the first play from scrimmage to the house from 43 yards away, evading four would-be Demon tacklers on the way. The score was 22-7 after the extra point.
On their very next drive, Buffalo quarterback found wide receiver Logan Schultz in the back of the end zone on a fade route from 15-yards out to make the score 22-13. The conversion attempt was no good with 9:09 remaining.
The Buffs' next possession, which came after a Demon three-and-out, began in Demon territory after another strong kick return, but all the Buffaloes could manage was a field goal that made the score 22-16 with 4:16 left on the clock.
Dodge City could control their own destiny if they could do the same with the last four minutes of play.
"A few of us on the sideline were ready to go back to the spread and move the ball around," Burke said. "But at gut check time, we put the game in the hands of the offensive line, and they won it for us."
The Demons, behind their big heavies, got the two first downs they needed, and, with 19 seconds left, Thomas kneeled the ball down, and the Hatchet came to rest again in Dodge.
Editor's note: The 6A playoff bracket shifted after the Saturday print edition of the Daily Globe was published. The information on the web site is correct — the Demons will go to Wichita Heights to play their first round playoff game.
