Herald Staff Report 

GARDEN CITY — The Garden City Bearkats are in uncharted territory heading to next week’s state championship game against Strawn.

Garden City's Josh Colunga runs the ball past a Follett defender Saturday in Plainview. The Bearkats are headed to their first ever state title game. -- Herald Photo/James Schwartz

But Garden City’s coach, Vance Jones, has been there before.

Jones coached a Marathon team to a state championship in 1976, and in 2002 made it back to the title game coaching Sanderson.

Now, the Bearkats will meet the Strawn Greyhounds on Saturday at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene at 7 p.m.

“I was just thinking, ‘Man I’m glad I get to do it one more time before I get too old to coach,’” Jones said Sunday.

Garden City’s 76-55 victory over Follett on Saturday night at Bull Stadium in Plainview showed that the Bearkats are worthy of playing for the state title.

For the second straight week, Garden City shut out its opponent in the fourth quarter to preserve a win.

“I think that shows our kids are dealing with the adversity and making the adjustments we need to make, and seeing what they’re doing, we end up playing really good defense at the end of the game,” Jones said. “It’s been a big difference.”

The Bearkats held Follett to just seven second-half points after it scored on all but two of its first-half possessions. Garden City, meanwhile, scored 62 first-half points that was more than enough.

Running back Josh Colunga totaled 235 yards on the ground and ran back three kickoff returns for scores. He accounted for six total touchdowns.

Receiver Reggie Halfmann ran for two touchdowns in the game, as well as intercepting two of Garden City’s three picks. Marcus Cook nabbed the other in the second half, and two of those turnovers led to Bearkat scores on the other end.

“They were huge,” Jones said of the turnovers.

Now, the team prepares for Strawn, which Jones has already looked at on film.

“They’re really similar to the two teams we just played in a lot of respects,” he said. “They’ve got some big kids, I don’t think they have as much speed as the last two opponents, but they’ve got admirable speed.

They play pretty tough, hard-nosed defense, and we’ll have to block well and catch well.”

Jones feels good about his team’s chances.

“Our kids’ determination and the fact that we do have a lot of quickness helps us a lot,” he said.

Garden City 76, Follett 55

Follett  28  20  7  0 -- 55

GC      38  24  8  6  -- 76

First Quarter

GC- Josh Colunga 20 run (Brett Chudej kick), 9:31

F- Cole Freeman 16 pass from Braden Blau (PAT NG), 6:49

GC- Colunga 71 kickoff return (Chudej kick), 6:36

F- Boone Tyson 34 run (PAT NG), 6:27

GC- Chudej 15 pass from Blayne Batla (Chudej kick), 5:48

F- Luke Lobmeyer 45 run (Freeman kick), 5:39

GC- Colunga 2 run (PAT NG), 3:20

F- Blau 45 run (Freeman kick), 3:01

GC- Colunga 53 kickoff return (Chudej kick), 2:53

Second Quarter

F- Tyson 3 run (PAT NG), 9:23

F- Lobmeyer 3 run (Freeman kick), 7:38

GC- Reggie Halfmann 3 run (Chudej kick), 4:56

GC- Chudej 24 run (Chudej kick), 2:37

F- Luke Cox 20 pass from Blau (PAT NG), :44

Fourth Quarter

GC- Halfmann 5 run (PAT NG)