IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Seven second-half touchdowns allowed Garden City to erase Ellsworth CC's 28-20 halftime lead and the visiting Broncos rolled to a 69-35 victory at Cadet Field on Saturday.
The Panthers seemed to be in good shape at intermission, overcoming an early scoring pass by Garden City to score 4 times in the opening two periods. But ECC was shut out in the 3rd quarter as Garden City used scoring runs of 5 and 22 yards around a 6-yard TD pass to take control. The Broncos ran away in the 4th quarter with 4 touchdowns, including a pair of long scoring runs by Travis Dixon.
Garden City started the offensive showcase on their 3rd play from scrimmage, connecting on a 75-yard pass for the first of a total of 15 touchdowns the teams combined for on the day. The Panthers answered that TD with one of their own on a pass from Joshua Bauer to Eghogho Eyafe that covered 53 yards. The next score for Ellsworth came courtesy of a 67-yard interception return by Jeremiah Gill. When Bauer found the endzone from 5 yards away later in the 1st quarter, ECC owned a 22-7 advantage.
The visitors crept to within 2 points in the 2nd period on a 16-yard pass and a 25-yard interception return for a TD, but the Panthers lengthened their lead when Bauer found Malcolm Gillie in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard scoring strike. Kmari Watson set up that score with an interception and ECC took advantage of the short field, going 18 yards to score.
The second half was all Broncos, however, except for Gill's second long defensive TD of the game for Ellsworth, a 76-yard run after scooping up a fumble. Those were the only points of the 2nd half for ECC. They were outscored 49-7 over the final 30 minutes.
ECC QB Bauer completed 15-of-39 passes for 220 yards and 2 scores while being picked off 3 times. The Panthers were held to 23 net yards on the ground. Eyafe hauled in 5 passes for 82 yards, Darrius Jackson grabbed 3 for 38, and Gillie caught a pair for 28 yards. Erastus Antsino, Ari Curtis, Austin Ayobamidele, Ernesto Rios and David Hall each had one reception. In addition to Gill's pick-six, Watson and Dan Knudsen also had interceptions. Knudsen returned his for 26 yards. Michael Acri topped ECC with his 9 tackles. Jaylin Vaughn had the only sack. Garden City piled up 599 yards of total offense to 243 yards for the Panthers.
After a bye week, Ellsworth concludes the season with a home contest against Butler (Kans.) CC on Nov. 12.
