Cowboys Erase 26-Point Deficit, Stun No. 6 Burlington 38-34

16 hours ago

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PHOTO CREDIT: Jackie Elliott

GOODLAND — Down 26 points with less than six minutes remaining in the third quarter, Goodland needed something special.

The Cowboys delivered.

Goodland scored 30 unanswered points over the final 17-plus minutes Friday night, erasing a 34-8 deficit to stun sixth-ranked Burlington, Colorado, 38-34 at Cowboy Stadium and improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2013.

Burlington appeared to have complete control after building its 26-point advantage in the third quarter. But head coach Dax Ruhs said his message to the Cowboys was simple: find someone who “will not be denied.”

“They came out with an intensity and a fierceness after that,” Ruhs said.

The comeback was fueled by a passing attack that exploded after Goodland struggled to move the football through the air in its season opener. Quarterback Reed Cure threw for a career-high 370 yards and five touchdowns without an interception, with seniors Joseph Von Lintel and Jackson Miller combining to haul in all five touchdown passes.

As Goodland’s offense caught fire, its defense finally found an answer for Burlington’s rushing attack. The Cowboys heavily rotated their defensive front to keep fresh bodies on the field and forced either a punt, turnover, or a turnover on downs on each of Burlington’s final five possessions.

One of the defining moments of the comeback came with Goodland facing fourth-and-16 from the Burlington 20 after a penalty turned what had been fourth-and-one into a long-yardage situation.

Instead of seeing the drive end, Cure fired a pass across the middle to Miller, who caught it and lunged into the end zone for a touchdown.

Ruhs said Goodland noticed Burlington had moved one of its top defenders into center field and designed the play to take advantage of it.

“Credit to Reid finding him,” Ruhs said. “Laser ball.”

It was part of a dominant closing stretch in which seemingly everything flipped in Goodland’s favor. The Cowboys scored 30 straight points while their defense shut out Burlington over the final 17-plus minutes to complete the 38-34 comeback.

“It takes everybody to get back in the game,” Ruhs said. “It takes the defense to get stops. It takes the offense to make plays.”

After opening the season with a gritty 14-12 road victory at Cimarron, Goodland found an entirely different way to win in Week 2. The Cowboys are now 2-0 for the first time since 2013 — when Ruhs himself was a senior at Goodland High School.

Ruhs credited a senior class that has helped establish a new belief around the program.

“This senior group is a group that knows how to win,” Ruhs said. “They are winners, and they’re going to do whatever it takes to win.”

Two games into the season, the Cowboys have already proven they can win in dramatically different ways — and Friday night, they proved that even a 26-point deficit wasn’t enough to put them away.

Up next, the 2-0 Cowboys head to Lakin to take on the 0-2 Broncs.

Coach Dax Ruhs' postgame comments:

Coach Dax Ruhs Postgame - Burlington (9-11-2026)

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