The Dodge City High School football program will travel to Garden City this Friday night as the Red Demons meet the Buffaloes at Buffalo Stadium on the campus of Garden City High School.
- This will be the 123rd meeting all-time between the two schools, dating back to the 1903 season, a 0-0 tie. The teams have played every year since 1907—the second longest rivalry in the state of Kansas. Dodge City leads the series 76-43-3.
- The teams have met 83 times since the Hatchet was introduced to the game in 1938. Dodge City leads in Hatchet victories 51-31-1.
- The Red Demons will return home in Week 8 to host the Wichita Southeast Buffaloes for the regular season finale.
- Week 9 will be the first round of the KSHSAA 6A playoffs with the top eight seeds hosting. Dodge City & Garden City are currently tied with Lawrence for the #6 seed in the west.
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84th Annual Hatchet Game – Will it be Another Game to Remember?
by Brett Marshall
It doesn’t take long to figure out the strangest things can happen when the Garden City Buffaloes and Dodge City Red Demons take to the football field for their annual Hatchet Game rivalry.
The game indeed has a rich history, dating back to 1938 as the official “Hatchet Game,” but the long-standing football feud goes all the way back to 1903. Since the late 1930s, the Hatchet has been the coveted trophy to haul home and proudly wave at many sporting events throughout the school year. 365 days can be an eternity for some.
It has been a Tale of Two Cities in how the games have played out. From the inaugural game of 1938 to the 1989 season, Dodge City was the dominant force, owning a (40-11-1) record over the Buffs. Dodge City has certainly earned the upper hand for the length of the rivalry (51-31-1). The Buffs have gone (20- 11) since 1990, but trail (7-6) since 2008.
This year will be the 84th Hatchet Game (in 1971 the teams met once in the regular season and then once in the Class 4A state playoffs).
In one stretch from 1995 to 2007, the Buffs put together a 13-game winning streak, the longest in the tradition-steeped rivalry. Dodge City had gone 17-3 in the Hatchet Game in a stretch from 1970 to 1989. Throw in 1990, and the Demons had a 9-game winning streak from 1982 to 1990.
The strangest things can happen in a Buffs-Demons Hatchet battle. In 2020, the Buffs used a Dodge City punt blocked by their own player to escape on the road with a 14-8 victory.
The 2019 game will always be memorable because of the weather when the temperature dropped nearly 30 degrees and the second half saw rain and blustery winds hamper playing conditions in an eventual Dodge City victory to keep their unbeaten season alive.
In 2015, Dodge City used a blocked point-after kick by the Buffs to win 21-20 in Garden City. The 2014 game saw Garden City fall behind 14-0 in the early stages only to come storming back with 32 unanswered points for a 32-14 triumph.
The 2012 game, though, had maybe the strangest play in Hatchet Game history when a bad snap from center caromed off the Garden City player’s backside down the line of scrimmage, was plucked off by a Dodge City player who raced 90-plus yards for a touchdown that proved to be the winning points in a dramatic 24-20 outcome.
In 2011, the final game to be played at Garden City’s Memorial Stadium before moving to Buffalo Stadium saw the Buffs get a field goal in the second overtime to prevail 18-15. The year before, in Dodge City, the Buffaloes led 20-0 midway through the second quarter only to have the Demons score 21 unanswered points and eventually win by three points propelling them to an eventual 11-1 record.
Buffalo fans will also remember the Broderick Smith stampede in 2007 when he rushed 46 times for 373 yards (still a school game record for yards and carries) in a 42-28 Garden City triumph.
“My last year coaching (2016) I remember we just played a very solid game against Dodge City,” said current GCHS Athletic Director Drew Thon. “We won 36-13. You always knew you would get the best shot from both teams no matter which team was favored.”
Before the high school playoff system was implemented in 1969, ties were still the rule of the day and in 1962 the two teams battled to a 6-6 standoff for the only tie in Hatchet history. The recent past has certainly has been a proverbial toss-up, with the home team winning 7 times and the visiting school six times – with only a 6 point per game differential existing between the two teams. Six of those games have been decided by six points or less.
Former GCHS athletic director and defensive coordinator for the Buffs from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, Bill Weatherly, recalled two games that stood out from his memory book. In 1991, Richard De la Rosa had a huge offensive night in a 41-20 win over the Demons, the first win of the Dave Meadows era.
In 1998, the Buffs got a 5-touchdown performance from Tony Crough (now head coach at Hays) in a 40-0 romp that catapulted them to the state championship game where they lost to Olathe North. “Those were the two games and individual performances that stood out for me,” said Weatherly, now coaching with Meadows in Elk City, Okla. “It was a big deal for us to finally break through and get a win over Dodge.”
Current Dodge City Athletic Director, Jay Gifford, played in two Hatchet Games, one of which occurred in 1987. Gifford missed the team bus, which came back to pick him up, and despite being ranked No. 2 in the state with just one loss (late in the season), the Demons survived with an 18-0 win.
“The game was closer than expected and my best memory was of Coach (Dick) Masters yelling at halftime, ‘I didn’t even bring the Hatchet over here (to Garden City),’” Gifford recalled.
Gifford also served as an assistant coach in the early 1990s and recalled a 10-0 loss to the Dave Meadows- coached Buffaloes. “Garden City was very good and it was the most competitive game Dodge had played in several years,” Gifford said. “We finally ended the (Garden City) streak in 2008.”
Glenn O’Neil will be leading the Red Demons into his first Hatchet Game as the Dodge City head coach. He was (2-0) at Scott City against the Buffaloes when the teams matched up in the late 2000’s.
Punt blocks, long TD runs and lengthy TD passes, interceptions, fumble recoveries…You name it, and it likely has happened in the Hatchet Game. Don’t forget big comebacks, such as the Garden City win in 2014 and the Dodge City rally from down 20 points in 2010.
“The monsoon game of 2019 is the latest craziness,” Gifford said. “It seems like you could write a book about just the last 13 years of the rivalry and people would be amazed at the stories,” Gifford said. “Both schools have had great teams during that era and the games have been competitive almost every year.”
The game is for everyone – players, coaches, students, community, and fans in general. It grabs the attention of the state, including one year when the game was televised statewide by Wichita media.
In 83 previous meetings, Dodge City, despite a 20-game advantage in the win column, has averaged just 19.3 points per game and Garden City has averaged 17.0 points in each contest. That’s how close it has been. Fans couldn’t ask for much more in a rivalry battle.
“I’ve seen Demon dominance and Buff dominance and the current year-to-year drama,” Gifford said. “It is a great event for both fan bases, communities and programs. I can’t wait to see what memories players from both sides create for themselves and the rest of football fans this Friday.”
