COFFEYVILLE – Defense and special teams came up big for the No. 6 Hutchinson Community College football team as the Blue Dragons’ 44-14 season-opening victory over No. 12 Coffeyville on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Hutchinson’s defense forced five takeaways that led to 20 Dragon points. HCC had 13 tackles for loss, including six quarterback sacks. HCC’s defense limited Coffeyville to 148 yards of total offense (31 rushing, 106 passing). The Dragons held the Red Ravens to four first downs and 46 yards total offense in a second half that saw HCC outscore Coffeyville 31-7.
Freshman defensive back Jaylon Myers had a most-impressive Blue Dragon debut by tying a team game record with three interceptions and forcing a fumble. Sophomores Brock Long and Shattle Fenteng both recovered fumbles.
Special teams were equally impressive on Saturday night.
With HCC leading 20-7 two-thirds of the way through the third quarter, special teams took the wide out of the Red Raven sails when Chris Murray took a Red Raven punt on the bounce, cruised around left and loped 78 yards for a touchdown for a 27-7 lead.
Freshman kicker Ryan Weese was perfect on eight placement kicks. He was 5 of 5 on extra points and 3 of 3 on field goals from 27, 31 and 28 yards. The first two broke a second-quarter time and gave HCC a 13-7 halftime lead.
Offensively, the Blue Dragons rolled up 329 total yards, getting 228 yards from sophomore quarterback Luke Barnes, who completed 28 of 46 passes and two touchdowns. The Dragons struggled early getting the run game going, but wound up with 101 net rushing yards. The Blue Dragons did lose two fumbles.
Sophomore Mike Blakely led Hutchinson’s rushing game with 70 yards on eight carries and one touchdown. Freshman Chase Abbington had 37 yards on 10 carries.
Throwing to a completely new set of receivers, Barnes connected with seven different players. Freshman Jabril Soloman had eight receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown. Blakeley, who had a team-high 175 all-purpose yards, had seven catches for 75 yards. Murray, who had 173 all-purpose yards, had six catches for 30 yards.
Long led the Blue Dragons defensively with 10 total tackles. Sophomore Zack Weekly posted a career-high eight tackles. Sophomore cornerback Christian Goodlett broke up six passes.
Coffeyville quarterback Dakota Collins was limited to 7 of 27 passing for 117 yards, one touchdown and was picked three times. Richie Dyer had 39 rushing yards on 12 carries and Andre Allen had 26 yards on12 carries.
The Blue Dragons struck early after a Fenteng fumble recovery at the Raven 16. Three plays later, Barnes connected with Murray for a 12-yard TD pass and a 7-0 lead with 12:24 to play in the first quarter.
The next four possessions wound up in punts. On their four possession, the Ravens drove 69 yards in nine plays and tied the game at 7-7 on a Drew Davis 5-yard touchdown run with 2:43 remaining in the first quarter.
Myers’ first interception of the game was returned 73 yards to the Coffeyville 16 in the second quarter. The Dragons couldn’t push into the end zone, but Weese booted his first career field goal from 27 yards out with 7:52 to play and a 10-7 Hutchinson lead. Weese added a game-long 31-yarder with 1:59 to play in the half gave the Blue Dragons a 13-7 halftime lead.
HCC opened the second half and drove the ball to the Raven 21, but the drive bogged down and the Dragons missed on fourth down. The Dragon defense put up and 3-and-out and then the offense found some flow and marched 66 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Barnes to Soloman for a 20-7 lead.
Coffeyville picked up two first downs on its next drive, but had to punt. That’s when Murray lulled the Raven coverage team to sleep by backing off of a punt that landed and bounced high at the 25. The Raven defense didn’t react to either Murray or the ball. Murray ran up to get the ball and broke around the left side down the sideline for a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 27-7 HCC lead with 5:07 to go.
HCC turned the ball over deep in its own territory on its next possession. Coffeyville scored on a Dijuan Ussery 33-yard touchdown reception to cut the lead to 27-14. But the Blue Dragons answered right back with a six-play, 57-yard TD drive capped off by Orange Mooney’s 2-yard touchdown run with 2:04 to play in the third quarter. The Dragons led 34-14.
Two more Coffeyville turnovers led to a Blakely 20-yard touchdown run and a Weese 28-yard field goal.
The Blue Dragons now look forward to a national Top 10 matchup in 2013 home opener when No. 3 Navarro College comes to Gowans Stadium at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
GAME NOTES – Hutchinson ties a series record with Coffeyville with its sixth-straight win over the Ravens. The Dragons have won 7 of the last 8 against the Ravens. … The Blue Dragons are now 46-34-2 in season openers, winning six straight. … The Blue Dragons are now 12-16 against ranked opponents under head coach Rion Rhoades after going 1-20 before his arrival. … This was the sixth-straight game for HCC to score 40 or more points against Coffeyville. … Luke Barnes is now second in completions with 294. He is five completions shy of moving past Robert Coates’ 298 completions. … The Blue Dragons won for only the second time in nine tries at Veterans Memorial Stadium. … Head coach Rion Rhoades won his 45th game as Blue Dragon head coach.
(HCC Sports Information)