Herald Staff Report

GARDEN CITY — Garden City head coach Vance Jones has been a popular man around town this week.

As he went to the girls basketball game Tuesday, he said he could hardly watch the game without someone wanting to talk with him about the Bearkats’ thrilling comeback victory over then No. 1-ranked Throckmorton last week.

Now, the Bearkats are No. 1 and in the state semifinals for the first time in school history with an eye at the ultimate prize — a state championship.

But first, the team will have to get by Follett in Sundown at 6:30 p.m.  Saturday, which after beating Meadow 52-30 is 12-1 and the No. 2 ranked team in the state. Its only loss was to Throckmorton on Oct. 2.

“They’re not huge, but they have pretty good size, and they look good on film,” Jones said by telephone Wednesday. “We’ve got to do our best to stop them and score as much as we can when we get the ball.”

Scoring wasn’t a problem in the first half last week for Garden City. The team matched Throckmorton’s Michael Everett score for score with a balanced run and pass attack from running back Josh Colunga and quarterback Blayne Batla.

Batla threw for better than 250 yards and five touchdowns, and Colunga ran for 163 yards and threw for 79 more, accounting for five Bearkat touchdowns of his own. That included the game-winner, a 21-yard toss on fourth down to Aaron Long with less than two minutes to play that gave Garden City an 84-80 lead.

The team earned its second U.S. Army Strong Team of the Week honor  of the season with the win.