GARDEN CITY – For the past several weeks, the Hutchinson High Salthawks football team has rolled up yard after yard after yard on the ground. Yet, HHS coach Ryan Cornelsen, his staff and players have not been happy with the conversion result of those yards into points. Friday night the Salthawks found themselves in much a similar situation. And the result was much the same. But this time, unlike five other weeks of the 2015 season when the Salthawks won easily, the inability to score twice from the 1-yard line proved too costly as the Garden City defense rose to the occasion and held, resulting in a 14-2 loss by the Salthawks. “We didn’t finish drives, and that’s just tough. It’s pretty disappointing,” Cornelsen said afterward. “I thought our defense did a good job, but the offense is gonna have to pick things up.” With the game coming in the Class 6A district opener, the Salthawks will have to find a way to get back on track next week when they host Dodge City. “We’re just gonna have to bounce back and show some character,” said Cornelsen, whose team falls to 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the district. Garden City, meanwhile, which won for just the second time in the 2000s over Hutch, remained unbeaten at 7-0 and 1-0 in the district. Despite owning a time of possession advantage and yardage edge in the first half, the Salthawks found themselves down 7-2 at halftime. After a scoreless first period in which Hutchinson dominated the clock and the stats sheet, the Salthawks finally got on the board thanks to their defense. After missing on fourth-and-1 at the goal line, Hutch’s defense then tackled Garden City quarterback Jesse Nunez in the end zone for a safety. There was 8:59 left in the half and it was 2-0 Hutch. With the Buffs forced to then punt back to the Salthawks, Hutch went right back to work, driving once again to the 1-yard line, where they appeared to have scored on a plunge by Gabe Ragioza, but the Salthawks were whistled for an interlocking push from behind and flagged with a 5-yard penalty. The Salthawks missed a golden opportunity to get up by more but quarterback Canyon Maldonado overthrew a wide open Brody Smith. Three plays after taking possession deep in their own territory, the Buffs struck on an 89-yard bulldozing run by fullback Peyton Hill, who was hit at the 15 and then broke free and outran the Hutch defenders all the way to the end zone. Zeke Herrera’s PAT kick made it 7-2 with 4:59 left before the half. The third quarter was a knockdown, big-boy, bully quarter for both teams as drives were highlighted by long possessions that stalled out, resulting in a punt for each team. Late in the quarter, the Buffs got the ball for just the second time, and marched 76 yards in 10 plays with Nunez finishing off the drive with a 5-yard score around right end. “We seemed like we just couldn’t get things clicking,” Cornelsen said. “Maybe we should have gone to the outside a little bit more (on offense), but we were moving the ball.” Cornelsen had also bemoaned the fact that his receivers had been dropping balls all season, and that malady hit them again, as at least seven balls were dropped by the wideouts, proving costly to keeping Salthawk drives alive. “Garden just outplayed us, simple,” Cornelsen said. “They out-coached us. Everything. Congratulations to them as they played a very good game and earned it.”