Gans won its third game in a row and improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in District B-3. The Grizzlies got a game-high 114 yards rushing from Gard and another 94 from Kyle John while dropping Cave Springs to 1-6 and 0-5.
However, it was Southern who ignited the blowout. In the opening six minutes of the game, the junior noseguard sacked the quarterback four times and blocked two punts that resulted in Gans' points. Southern recovered the first blocked punt for a touchdown and Nick Woodruff passed to Kameron Pastore for the conversion and an 8-0 lead.
Less than minute later, Southern blocked another Cave Springs punt out of the end zone for a safety, making it 10-0 at the 6:15 mark of the first quarter.
Sam Morgan came up with a fumble recovery for the Hornets on the ensuing free kick. Cave Springs capitalized on the opportunity when Bryan Girdner tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Brice Duvall. Girdner ran for the two-point conversion to pull the Hornets within 10-8 midway through the opening period.
Gans began to take control after that, marching 50 yards in five plays to go up 18-8. Gard, a senior tailback, started the drive with a 26-yard run and he capped with an 11-yard touchdown. Joe Brunk caught a pass from Woodruff on the conversion.
Gard got his second touchdown of the night a few moments later after Kameron Pastore recovered a fumble in Hornet territory. Gard went around the left end on first down and raced 21 yards to the end zone to give the Grizzlies a 24-8 lead entering the second period.
Cave Springs responded with a nine-play scoring drive that covered 45 yards. The touchdown came on a 17-yard pass from Girdner to Littlewolf Pettit. Key plays on the drive were a 16-yard Girdner-to-Pettit pass and pass interference call against Gans on fourth-and-13 from the Grizzly 32-yard line.
Two touchdowns late in the half sent the Grizzlies to the locker room with a 38-14 lead. The first came on Gard's two-yard TD run with 1:30 left. Gans then forced a Hornet punt and scored in the closing seconds. Woodruff fired a 15-yard pass to Kyle John and, on the last play of the half, scrambled 26 yards for the score. He passed to Pastore for the two-point conversion.
Girdner threw his third touchdown pass of the night on the Hornets' opening drive of the second half. His 53-yard strike to Duvall pulled Cave Springs back to within 38-20.
Gans answered with a five-play scoring drive powered by the running of Gard and John. Gard had a 17-yard gain before John ran for 12 yards to set up his one-yard touchdown. Gard ran for the conversion to make it 46-20 with 5:42 left in the third.
Three plays later, Gard intercepted a Cave Springs pass and returned it 25 yards to the Hornet 12. John covered that distance in one play, going around the right end for the TD. Gard's two-point conversion run put Gans up 54-20.
The rest of the scoring came in the fourth quarter. Second-string quarterback Brunk ran for a seven-yard touchdown and Riley Henry ran for two points to extend the Gans lead to 62-20.
Morgan bulled his way 15 yards into the end zone for a Cave Springs touchdown and Duval scored on a two-yard run late in the contest for the Hornets.
Gans finished the game with just under 300 yards rushing. Gard ran 12 times for 114 yards and John picked up 94 on 10 atttempts. Woodruff carried the ball five times for 63 yards and was 2-of-4 passing for 29 yards before sitting out the second half. John had both receptions.
Cave Springs had its regular quarterback quit the team before the game, but Girdner moved into the starting role and completed 11-of-25 passes for 172 yards and three TDs. Pettit was the main target with eight catches for 92 yards, while Duvall caught three for 80 yards.
The Gans defense held Cave Springs to a net total of 54 yards on the ground, but Morgan picked up 43 yards on his four rushing attempts.
Next up for Cave Springs is an Oct. 19 game at No. 1-ranked Morrison. Gans will be at home against Oaks on Oct 19.
