By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Kansas Jayhawks, the Kansas State Wildcats, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Don't forget about the Great Bend Panthers. The fall of 2022 has proven to be an exceptionally exciting one for local football teams of interest. After ending a 19-game skid in week three of the season, the Panthers beat Dodge City 21-14 Friday night for a third-straight win. Coach Erin Beck said he can see the difference in his team heading into Homecoming.
"I think the biggest thing you see is the confidence in the kids," he said. "That's what I love to see as a coach, how much their demeanor has changed. When you go on a stretch like that, it just lets so much self-doubt creep into them. I see with our quarterback so much, with Cayden Scheuerman, how much winning can change that. Just the way he goes about everything, the way he walks the hallway, you can just tell."
Great Bend has remained a football town despite some hiccups over the past four decades. The Panthers posted just two winning seasons between 1980 and 2000. Bo Black turned that around with eight-straight winning seasons and a state championship berth in 2006. Beck led the Panthers to a 10-2 record in his first season as head coach in 2016, and was 28-13 before the 19-game slide began at the end of the 2019 season.
"Football kind of sets the tone for the school year, if you look at all athletics," Beck said. "It's just such a community event. You only get four home games guaranteed, opportunities to come out and see these kids play. I think that's what makes football special. It is a production."
The losing streak was 17 entering the 2022 season against tough competition. McPherson and Hays are a combined 8-2 out of the gates, and Buhler is perennially tough with a 24-9 record the previous three seasons. The Panthers handed the Crusaders a 31-6 loss, then dominated Wichita Southeast 45-0 in week four.
"Once we got that first one against Buhler, it felt like there was a little bit of relief," said Beck. "These kids were able to play a little more freely. That's been the nice thing to see, not having to put pressure on themselves each week to get that win. Even Friday, we didn't play our best. We were not very good up front and missed a lot of blocking assignments. But the kids had already tasted that success. They knew that as long as they gave themselves a chance, they could make the plays. That's what's fun about coaching high school football."
In Friday's win, Great Bend ran just 18 plays in the first half compared to 30 for Dodge City. A fumble and a touchdown called back on a penalty helped the Red Demons to a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Panthers answered with an 18-play, 80-yard drive capped by an 8-yard touchdown run from junior Cody Miller. After a defensive stop, Great Bend tied the game on an 11-yard pass play from Scheuerman to junior Colton Brack. Just 6:27 remained in regulation.
"It was one of the weirdest games I've ever been in," Beck said. "We only had seven offensive possessions, counting the overtime one. We knew as an offense we let a couple slip away. We told them, 'Guys if you get a chance in the second half, you cannot waste it.' That's what was fun, to see us drive the ball 80 yards, 18 plays, punch that thing in. Once Miller got that one in the endzone, you could just feel that our kids and our coaches, we were going to win that football game. That's pretty fun as a coach to see."
The Panther defense made one final stop to force overtime. Dodge City won the toss and elected to play defense first. Scheuerman again found Brack for a score to keep the pressure on the Red Demons, who fumbled on their second down and missed on two pass attempts to end the game.
Through five weeks, Scheuerman has completed 61 of his 107 pass attempts for 713 yards and seven touchdowns. Miller leads the ground attack with 520 yards and seven touchdowns on 89 carries. Senior Braylon Council leads the receivers with 344 yards and three touchdowns on 25 receptions. Defensively, Dee'Onn Jones, Mathew Moeder, and Skyler McMullen have each recorded more than 40 tackles. Alex Galindo has made 17 of 18 point-after tries this season.
Great Bend hosts Liberal for Homecoming Friday night at 7 p.m. The parade begins downtown at 2:30 p.m., with the Madrigal Chili Supper to follow at GBHS from 5-7 p.m. The Homecoming king and queen will be crowned prior to the game at 6:30 p.m.