Buffs’ second-half struggles lead to Wichita NW win
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (GCHS Sports Information) — Nearly every week of the 2026 football season, the Garden City Buffaloes’ team has seemingly faced a talented running back.
GCHS head coach Joe Price was understandably concerned about the fleet of running backs that the Wichita Northwest Grizzlies brought to town Friday night for an inter-conference game between the Wichita City League and the Western Athletic Conference.
In the final analysis of the Grizzlies’ 37-16 victory over the Buffs, it was the Northwest running attack that made all the difference. The bad news for Grizzly opponents over the next two years is that the majority of those backs are underclassmen.
“They are as good as anybody we’ve played this year,” Head Coach Joe Price said. “I thought our performance in the first half was awesome,” Price said of the 21-16 deficit for the Buffs at intermission. “We rode the waves of good and bad situations. It was one of those games where you could not afford to get your dauber down.”
The stable of runners rolled up 380 Rushing yards with sophomore running back Zy’Air Burton (6-2, 185) leading the way with 184 yards and four touchdowns. Eleven of those attempts were for ten or more yards.
“They have a lot of weapons and are a good football team,” Price said of Northwest, usually one of the top 6A schools in the western half of Kansas. “At the same time, I see a lot more aggressive play from our kids which translated into turnovers.”
It was Burton who electrified the Senior Night crowd by sweeping around left end and racing 65 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Just 11 seconds had elapsed, and the Buffs found themselves down 7-0 after Jude Sizemore’s PAT kick.
Give credit where credit is due, and the Buffs didn’t fold. Instead, it took them only four plays to even the score when Tate Heavner connected with Mackoy Hemmert on a well-executed ‘flea-flicker’ from 50 yards out. Heavner had handed the ball off to running back Jakobe Rathbun, who took two steps forward, turned and pitched the ball back to Heavner. The sophomore quarterback then found a wide-open Hemmert at the 20-yard line, and he hauled it into the end zone untouched. Justin Membrano’s PAT kick knotted the score, and it took just 1:31 to even the game.
That would be the beginning of a roller-coaster first half in which the Buffs trailed, 7-0; then tied at 7-7; went ahead 10-7 on Membrano’s 37-yard field goal at the 3:25 mark of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Buffs had a golden opportunity to go up by 10 points when they were facing a 3rd and 4th down situations inside the Grizzlies’ 5-yard-line only to have Ryder Carr
stopped on a reverse run just inches away from the goal line.
That would springboard the Grizzlies into a 99-yard, 13-play drive that consumed 3 minutes, 35 seconds and was capped off by Burton’s 1-yard plunge. Skidmore’s PAT kick made it 14-10 with 7:04 left in the half.
Once again, the Buffs went to the air when Heavner and Carr hooked up on a 43-yard pass to put the ball at the Northwest 39. Five running plays and a pass interference call on the Grizzlies saw Heavner scramble around left end, cut back to the inside and then nosedive into the end zone. Membrano’s point after was wide left, leaving the Buffs up 16-14 with 4:23 on the clock.
The Grizzlies, however, went back to their locomotive offense, covering 62 yards in 10 plays with Burton running in from the 5-yard-line with just 0:41 on the clock. Skidmore’s PAT made it 21-16 at halftime.
Intermission didn’t slow down the Grizzlies while the Buffs’ offense struggled much of the final 24 minutes.
The Buffs took the opening kickoff of the third and ran two plays before a fumble turned it over to the Grizzlies, who were flagged for two critical penalties. Their drive stalled on 4th and goal from the 17-yard line when a pass completion was stopped at the 3-yard line.
However, the Buffs misfired when Heavner was called for intentional grounding from the end zone, resulting in a 2-point safety, making the score 23-16 with 9:01 remaining in the period.
The Buffs had to then kickoff from the 20-yard line, and a short boot into the wind gave the ball to Northwest at the Garden City 33. It took six running plays for the Grizzlies to score, and it was Burton again who took it in from the 5-yard-line. Skidmore’s PAT boot made it 30-16 with 5:32 left in the third.
Twice the Buffs’ defense had held off the Grizzlies only to go 3-and-out again.
Northwest took over on their own 42 after a short punt into the wind by the Buffs. That would set up an 11-play, 58-yard drive that was aided by two offside penalties on the Buffs’ defense. On the second play of the fourth quarter, and the 11th of the drive, Isaiah Guerrero picked off Northwest’s Breckston Young to give the ball back to the Buffs at their own 10-yard line. After five plays the Buffs punted.
After Northwest stalled on its possession, the Buffs drove the ball to the Northwest 23 where on 3rd-and-8, Xytryl Pless jumped the route and intercepted Heavner, and raced 78 yards for the final backbreaking score. There was only 4:15 remaining and the Buffs had two final possessions but could not move any deeper than the Northwest 25-yard-line. One possession ended on a tackle for loss and another on a short gain.
Northwest took over with 1:23, took to the knee twice and ran out the clock.
After Burton’s big night, Braylon Scott added 146 yards on 13 carries while Henry Robinson chipped in with 40 yards on 9 rushes. Young completed 3-of-6 passes for 32 yards and had the one interception.
For the Buffs, they rushed 43 times for 119 yards with Rathbun leading the way with 18 carries for 59 yards. Heavner completed 12-of-25 passes for 177 yards and had the one pick. Hemmert led the receivers with 6 catches for 94 yards. Carr had 71 yards on 4 receptions.
“Offensively, we moved the ball at times, but we couldn’t find a way to score,” Price said of the second-half frustrations.”There’s definitely positives to take away. There are always a few plays in each game that swings a game one way or the other. Friday night, those didn’t go out way.”
The Buffs were without the services of their leading tackler, senior linebacker Drew Strecker, who sustained an injury the week before in the win at Liberal. He is expected to return for the Dodge City game.
Defensively, Gabe Gurrola had a big night, finishing with 21 tackles (8 solos), one tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Isaac Guerrero had 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss. Isaiah Guerrero had the big interception. Andrew Wessels recorded 10 tackles (3 solos) and forced a fumble.
The Buffs’ setback evened their season record at 3-3 while Northwest improved to 4-2. The Grizzlies’ two losses came in the first two weeks of the season to 5A powers Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
Next Friday, the Buffs will regroup and prepare for the annual Hatchet Game at Dodge City. The Red Demons are 2-4 overall after losing to Hays, 35-0. The Buffs are 1-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, and the Demons are 0-3.
“We know it’s a huge game,” Price said of the rivalry that is well past 100 years old. “The kids want to get the Hatchet back. They haven’t beaten Dodge since their freshman year. If you lose this kind of game, it’s a major disappointment and if you win, it’s one you want to cherish.”
The Hatchet Game dates to 1938 while the overall rivalry, the second oldest in Kansas, started in 1903. Dodge City owns a 54-33-1 lead in the Hatchet series while the Demons are 81-46-3 overall.
The Dodge City game will finish the WAC schedule with the Buffs concluding the 8-game regular season slate on Oct. 23 at Wichita East. Teams in 6A will then be seeded 1 through 16 in the West and East. Currently, the Buffs are sitting in the No. 7 slot.
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The Yardstick
WICHITA NORTHWEST 37, GARDEN CITY 16
Score by Quarters
Wichita-Northwest (4-2)…7…14…9…7…–…37
Garden City (3-3)…10…6…0…0…–…16
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
WNW—Zy’Air Burton 65 run (Jude Sizemore kick), 11:50. 0-7.
Drive: 1 play, 65 yards, Elapsed time: 0:10.
GC—Mackoy Hemmert 50 pass from Tate Heavner (Justin Membrano kick), 10:19. 7-7.
Drive: 4 plays, 64 yards, Elapsed time: 1:31.
GC—Justin Zembrano 37 field goal, 6:54. 10-7.
Drive: 6 plays, 5 yards, Elapsed time: 3:21.
Second Quarter
WNW—Zy’Air Burton 1 run (Jude Skidmore kick), 7:04. 10-14.
Drive: 13 plays, 99 yards, Elapsed time: 3:31.
GC—Tate Heavner 7 run (kick failed), 4:23. 16-14.
Drive: 7 plays, 82 yards, Elapsed time: 2:41.
WNW—Zy’Air Burton 4 run (Jude Skidmore kick), 0:41. 16-21.
Drive: 10 plays, 62 yards, Elapsed time: 3:19.
Third Quarter
WNW—Safety, Garden City intentional grounding in end zone results in 2 points, 8:12. 16-23.
Drive: 0 plays, 0:00.
WNW—Zy’Air Burton 5 run (Jude Skidmore kick), 5:32. 16-30.
Drive: 7 plays, 33 yards, Elapsed time: 2:40.
Fourth Quarter
WNW—Xytryl Pless 78 pass interception return (Jude Skidmore kick), 4:15. 16-37.
Drive: 0 plays, defensive TD.
Team Statistics
……WNW……GC
1st downs…15…17
Rushes-yds….54-380…43-119
Passing yds….32…177
Passes (Com-Att-Int)….3-6-1…12-25-1
Total plays-yds….60-412….68-296
Fumbles-lost…4-3….2-1
Penalties-yds….7-75….10-64
Punts-avg….1-25.0….3-35.7
Possession time….25:12….22:48
Individual Statistics
RUSHING—Northwest: Burton 26-184; Scott 13-146; Robinson 9-40; Yarbough 1-1; Young 3-19; Team 2-(-10). Garden City: Rathbun 18-59; Heavner 11-25; Carr 1-1; Valemburn 7-34.
PASSING—Northwest: Young 3-6-1—32. Garden City: Heavner 12-25-1—177.
RECEIVING—Northwest: Burton 1-15; Griffen 1-14; Scott 1-3. Garden City: Rathbun 2-12; Carr 4-71; Hemmert 6-94.
PUNTING—Northwest: Burton 1-25.0; Garden City: Calderon 3-35.7.