For the second straight year against Navarro College, the Hutchinson Community College football team fell behind early and never could quite climb out of the hole.
Trailing by 12 points at halftime, the No. 6 Blue Dragons fell short in a 41-16 loss to No. 3 Navarro on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium in a game that was closer than the final margin indicated.
Four of Hutchinson’s first 5 drives of the game started in Navarro territory, but the Blue Dragons could only cash in for two Ryan Weese field goals. On the flipside, the Bulldogs turned three HCC turnovers into 21 points.
The Blue Dragons had their moments in the 2013 home opener.
Sophomore quarterback Luke Barnes completed 22 of 42 passes for 276 yards. He became the program’s career leader in completed passes, doing so with his fifth completion of the game. Barnes now has 316 career completions.
Freshman receiver Jabril Soloman caught four balls for 125 yards and sophomore running back Mike Blakely had six receptions for 50 yards.
Freshman running back Chase Abbington ran for a team-high 64 yards on 15 carries and scored his first career touchdown.
The kick return group of Chris Murray, Soloman, Orange Mooney and Blakely combined to average 27.8 yards on five kickoff returns with four going for 30 or more yards.
Weese remained perfect on placement kicks with an extra point and field goals of 18, 26 and 20 yards.
The Blue Dragons (1-1) compiled 364 total yards against the Bulldogs (2-0). HCC was only able to muster 88 on the ground.
The defense was led by sophomore linebacker Brock Long, who reached the 10-tackle plateau for the sixth-straight game with 13 tackles. Sophomore defensive back Christian Goodlett had a career-high 12 tackles and sophomore linebacker Michael Peek had 11 stops. Sophomore defensive back Jaylon Myers intercepted his fourth pass of the season.
But Navarro was tough to stop with 478 total yards, going for 316 yards on the ground.
Cameron Washington led the Bulldogs with 170 rushing yards on 16 carries, including a 90-yard touchdown run. Tim Wright scored four touchdowns and ran for 129 yards on 24 rushing attempts. Navarro quarterback Joshua Collins was 16 of 29 passing for 162 yards and one interception. Bulldog receiver Austin Collins caught nine balls for 106 yards.
The Blue Dragons’ second possession started at the Navarro 17, but HCC had to settle for an 18-yard Weese field goal to grab a 3-0 lead with 9:35 to play in the opening quarter. Navarro answered on its next drive, going 61 yards in eight plays to take a 7-3 lead on Wright’s 5-yard TD run with 7:31 to play in the quarter.
The Dragons went 3-and-out despite starting at the Navarro 48 and downed a Barnes punt at the Navarro 10. On the very next play, Washington broke loose for a 90-yard TD run and a 14-3 lead with 5:41 to play in the first quarter.
Hutchinson answered with a sustained drive that consisted of 11 plays and covered 79 yards, but it stalled at the Navarro 9 and Weese booted a 26-yard field goal to cut the Navarro lead to 14-6 with 2:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Navarro took a 28-6 lead on Wright touchdown runs of 26 and 3 yards. Hutchinson answered with 10 unanswered points to close the second quarter. The Dragons finally got a big offensive play when Barnes scrambled to draw the defense to him and flipped a pass to Soloman for a 64-yard pitch-and-catch to the Navarro 1. Abbington slammed the ball into the end zone with 5:53 to play and the Dragons cut the deficit to 28-13.
Navarro then drove to the Dragon 32, but lost the ball on downs. Barnes and Soloman again connected on a big play for 52 yards to the Bulldog 4, but with 15 seconds left on fourth and goal, the Dragons opted for a Weese 20-yard field goal to pull within 28-16 at halftime.
The third quarter turned into a defensive struggle until late in the quarter when Navarro was able to force a fumble and recovered it at the Dragon 29. Navarro then used six plays to cash in and take a 34-16 lead on a Washington 1-yard run with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.
Wright scored his fourth touchdown of the game after another Dragon turnover in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Dragons complete a rugged three-week stretch to start the season on Saturday when they play another ranked team in 2-0 and No. 17-ranked Garden City at 7 p.m. at Gowans Stadium.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons complete the Jayhawk Conference-Southwest Junior College Football Conference Challenge with a 4-4 overall record. … Quarterback Luke Barnes is now just 20 yards shy of moving into second place on the career passing list and is 224 yards shy of No. 1. … Barnes moved into third on the career total offense list with 3,775 yards. … Brock Long has had 10 or more tackles in 7 of his last 8 games played.
(HCC Sports Information)