Garden Plain beats Conway Springs 27-12 (+video)

Nursing a two-score lead entering the fourth quarter, Garden Plain abandoned all pretense of a passing threat. Eight men crouched at the line of scrimmage with the remaining three in the backfield and no one outside. The Owls marched down the field and held onto the ball long enough to secure a 27-12 victory at Conway Springs.

The Garden Plain passing game wasn’t effective, and Conway Springs had big-play capability ready in the fourth. So the only solution for the Owls was to hold onto the ball, and it worked.

Garden Plain marched 58 yards on the 11-play, 6-minute drive that cut the fourth-quarter clock in half and wiped out any chance of a Conway Springs comeback.

“That was huge,” Garden Plain coach Ken Dusenbury said. “I think the offensive line, even though we’ve got a long way to go, showed some signs tonight. And we have running backs that get the extra two or three yards every time and that starts to mount up and you’ve got a chance then.”

The drive was capped by Martin Ladwehr’s 7-yard touchdown run for a 27-6 lead, giving Garden Plain a key score that proved valuable. Conway Springs responded on the resulting kickoff with Derek Pauly’s 77-yard kickoff return to the 3 yard line. Pauly punched it in one play later for a quick score to bring the game back to a two-score lead and steal the game’s momentum.

“It was really quiet (on the sideline). It died down,” Garden Plain senior offensive lineman Graham Eastburn said. “But a couple of our seniors stepped up, because they know how it feels. We’ve had two years where it just hasn’t been good for us. We didn’t want our senior year to be like that.”

Garden Plain had suffered losses the past two seasons to Conway Springs, leading to losing records for the year both times. Now at 3-0, the expectations surrounding the Owls are increasing, and Dusenbury, in his first year at Garden Plain, gave the credit to Eastburn and his fellow seniors.

“I’m just proud of these seniors,” he said. “It’s a special night for these seniors. That’s a heck of a football team we were able to beat today.”

Conway Springs (2-1) was held in check with just 50 total yards in the first half. The running game was effective at times but couldn’t carry the load once the home team fell behind. A lack of a passing threat allowed Garden Plain to crowd the box and limit Conway Springs’ running attack.

“Their fakes are very well executed, and they get you in a bad position,” Dusenbury said. “Their running backs run so hard that you have to play team defense, and I was very pleased with our team defense tonight.”

Conway Springs sophomore quarterback Colton Terhune was limited to 2 completions on 11 pass attempts and was picked off twice.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 12:05 AM with the headline "Garden Plain beats Conway Springs 27-12 (+video)."