[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ HCC SPORTS INFORMATION ]
Photo courtesy of Joel Powers, HCC Sports Information
FORT SCOTT, Kan. — Cam Jones threw for three touchdowns and Tre Griffin nearly reached 200 rushing yards and added two scores of his own as the Hutchinson Community College football team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 42-24 Jayhawk Conference victory over Fort Scott on Saturday night at Frary Field.
The victory evens Hutchinson’s season record at 5-5 and improves to 2-4 in the Jayhawk Conference. More importantly, the Blue Dragons still keep hopes alive of becoming bowl eligible. Hutchinson wraps up the regular season next Saturday against Dodge City at Gowans Stadium.
Jones had his best game as a Blue Dragon by completing 21 of 28 passes for a season-high 275 yards, the first time this season that Hutchinson has passes for more than 200 yards in a game. Jones threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Gary Cross, a 26-yard scoring strike to Jezel Parra and another 44-yard touchdown to Cross to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.
Hutchinson’s rush game was equally impressive as Griffin rushed for a career-high 197 yards on 37 carries and touchdowns of 1 and 21 yards. Griffin becomes the first Blue Dragon running back to rush at least 30 times in one game since LaDarrian Page had 35 carries against Fort Scott on September 27, 2008.
DeShawn Waller rushed for 97 yards on 13 carries, including a 43-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that gave the Blue Dragons a two-possession lead at 28-17.
Cross caught four balls for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Harris had a team-high five receptions for 43 yards. Jones threw completions to 10 different receivers.
The Blue Dragon defense held Nathan Rourke, the Jayhawk Conference’s leading passer, to 148 yards on 16 of 36 passing with three touchdowns, one interception and two quarterback sacks. Hutch’s defense limited Fort Scott o 65 rushing yards.
Despite five turnovers, the Blue Dragons had a season-high 559 offensive yards to 213 for the Greyhounds.
The Blue Dragons dodged an early bullet when an interception on the third play of the game gave Fort Scott the ball at the Hutch 27. The Greyhounds drove to the 11 before the drive stalled and Fort Scott settled for a Brody Southwell 28-yard field goal with 12:34 to play in the first quarter.
The Blue Dragons responded with back-to-back scoring drives. After Vance Johnson recovered a Greyhound fumble at the Fort Scott 38, the Dragons needed three plays to take the lead when Jones connected with Cross for a 42-yard touchdown and a 7-3 Dragon lead with 9:15 to play. After forcing a Fort Scott punt, the Dragons marched 82 yards in 11 plays and scored when Parra caught his first career touchdown pass, 26-yards from Jones for a 14-3 lead with 3:11 to play in the opening quarter.
Fort Scott immediately answered with a 10-yard Rourke touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter to pull within 14-10. The Dragons then scored on a third-straight possession when Griffin’s 1-yard touchdown plunge capped a 10-play, 72-yard scoring march and the Dragons lead 21-10 with 10:45 to play.
The Greyhounds struck quickly to start the second half needing only three plays to cover 61 yards when Rourke struck from 41 yards out to Fred Daughtry and the Dragon lead was cut to 21-17 with 14:02 to play in the third quarter.
The running backs helped answer that Fort Scott challenge, running the ball seven times on the nine-play scoring drive that covered 76 yards. Griffin had his second-longest run of the game when he broke loose for a 21-yard touchdown and Hutch led 28-17 with 10:36 to play in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Dragons put the game away early in the fourth quarter. Waller started to show his breakaway ability again after injury as slowed his season. He gashed the Greyhounds for a 43-yard touchdown run with 12:03 to play to give the Dragons a 35-17 lead. The Dragons struck one more time when Cross caught his second touchdown pass of the game from Jones, this one from 44 yards to cap an eight-play, 59-yard scoring drive and give Hutch a 42-17 lead.