By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Even the bad plays went Great Bend's way in Friday's 55-0 Homecoming win against Wichita Southeast. With the game already in hand, a muffed punt attempt resulted in a 16-yard run and first down from sophomore Trenton Kern. That's how it went all night as senior Cody Miller piled up 157 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone to begin the rout.
“That’s the thing you’d really like to see in a game like this is our ability to run the football,” Panther Coach Erin Beck said. “We really wanted to work on it all week and come out here and execute. It was an area that we’ve struggled with the first three weeks. To get Cody going and to get our offensive line going was really nice to see.”
Miller handled all the touches on the first Panther drive totaling 55 yards and capped with a two-yard touchdown run four minutes in. He added a 3-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter for a 14-0 Panther lead.
Kern blocked a punt to end the next Southeast drive. On the very next play, sophomore Jacob Hall went 31 yards on a pass from sophomore Daxton Minton. The lead grew to 21-0 with 42 seconds to play in the first.
Great Bend's offense quieted until a wild final three minutes in the first half. Miller scored from two yards out with 2:24 to play, then Jace Schartz recovered a fumble on the ensuing kick. On the next play, Minton threw to senior Maddox Spray behind the line of scrimmage. Spray found a wide-open Ian Premer downfield for a 30-yard strike.
Southeast threw three incomplete passes to keep the clock stopped in the final two minutes of the half. That gave Miller plenty of time to run 38 yards for his final touchdown of the half. The Panthers led 41-0 at the intermission.
Miller tacked on a 6-yard touchdown early in the third to finish with 186 yards and five touchdowns on 22 attempts. Sophomore Conner Holladay capped scoring in the final minute of a running-clock third with a 1-yard run. Minton completed his night with 72 yards and a touchdown on 7-of-15 passing. Premer caught two passes for 44 yards, and Hall added two receptions for 37 yards.
The Panther defense held Southeast to 50 yards on 20 rushes. Junior Kyng Jones accounted for 38 of those yards on three carries.
“We thought coming in our defense had played well the first three games,” Beck said. “We were pretty excited for an opportunity like this. I thought they played their tails off all night. To pitch a shutout against a Wichita team that had shown some bursts here and there, for us to shut them down and shut them out is nice to see.”
Great Bend will take a 2-2 record into next Friday's home game against Dodge City.