(HCC Sports Information)
The Hutchinson Community College football team gave up four long scoring plays and missed on numerous opportunities of its own as the eighth-ranked Blue Dragons dropped a 28-10 decision to No. 4 Butler in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium.
The victory clinches the 2011 Jayhawk Conference championship for the Grizzlies (8-1, 6-0), who defeated the Blue Dragons (6-2, 4-1) for the 18th consecutive time. HCC had its 13-game Gowans Stadium winning streak snapped, falling to Butler for the eighth-straight time at home.
Hutchinson now must defeat No. 19 Coffeyville next Saturday at Coffeyville to finish second place in the Jayhawk Conference and earn a Region VI semifinal home game, which will be played against Coffeyville. A loss to the Red Ravens next Saturday means HCC makes a return trip to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Nov. 6 for the Region VI semifinals.
The Blue Dragons gave up scoring plays of 68, 49, 78 and 80 yards to the Grizzlies. But Butler never drove the ball downfield against the Blue Dragon defense which only two possessions of more than five plays.
While the big plays against were painful, Hutchinson wasn’t able to finish off drives.
Hutchinson traveled into Butler territory seven times, including four into the red zone. HCC had one missed field goal, two turnovers and turned the ball over on downs as Butler upped its streak of not allowing an offensive touchdown to 28 consecutive quarters.
“It’s disappointing to get down there close,” HCC head coach Rion Rhoades said. “We moved the ball to get down there, but we didn’t’ move the ball to get it in. We’ve got to get better at that and holding onto the ball.”
“We should have scored more touchdowns,” HCC running back Deveon Dinwiddie said. “When you make mistakes like we did in the red zone, it will cost you.”
The Blue Dragons had season lows of 71 rushing yards and 281 total yards. The Dragons committed a season-high three turnovers. Dinwiddie had a team-high 43-yards on 16 carries.
Hutchinson did break a school record for scoring in a season with 423 points.
HCC sophomore quarterback Elliott Alford completed 22 of 34 passes for 210 yards. He did throw his second interception of the season and was sacked four times. With his 234 total yards, Alford surpassed Robert Coates as the Blue Dragons’ career leader in total offense with 3,943 yards. He also became the fifth Blue Dragon player to amass 2,000 total yards in a season with 2,108 yards.
“We made a couple of mistakes when we got into the red zone,” Alford said. “
All-American Cordarrelle Patterson had the only touchdown for the Blue Dragons. That came in the form of a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to pull the Blue Dragons within 21-10 with 10:26 to play in the third quarter. IT was Patterson’s school-record sixth return for a touchdown and fifth return of a kickoff into the end zone. Offensively, Patterson finished with seven catches for 76 yards.
Freshman receiver Jatavious Stewart had six receptions for 64 yards and freshman Miguel Johns had five catches for 58 yards.
Butler rolled up 461 yards of total offense, including a season-high 273 passing yards against the Blue Dragons. Quarterback Chandler Whitmer was 9 of 19 passing with one interception. Jasper Sanders had 103 yards on 12 carries, but 80 yards came on one play in the fourth quarter. Receiver Kendall Wrenn had 103 yards on two catches, one a 78-yard touchdown receptions.
Butler scored on the second play from scrimmage when Devin Clark scored on a 68-yard pass for a 7-0 lead just 24 seconds into the game.
Hutchinson got its first break of the game when Clark muffed a Kody Clark punt and Tim Edmond recovered the ball at the Grizzly 40. The Dragons drove to the Butler 7-yard line where the drive stalled and Michael Mesh booted a 24-yard field goal to cut the Butler lead to 7-3 with 3:32 to play in the first quarter.
Bit plays haunted HCC two possessions later. The Grizzlies converted a Blue Dragon red zone turnover into a 49-yard Whitmer touchdown pass to Jacob Hurla for a 14-3 lead with 7:31 to play in the first half. HCC turned the ball over again and missed a field goal and the Dragons trailed by 11 points at halftime.
Butler scored on its first possession of the second half when Wrenn caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from Whitmer to put the Grizzlies up 21-3 with 10:41 to go in the third quarter.
The Blue Dragons got a breath of life on the ensuing kickoff when Patterson broke up the middle, avoided a pair of Butler defenders, cut right and broke up the sideline for a 96-yard touchdown return to cut the Butler lead to 21-10 with 10:26 to play in the quarter.
After holding Butler to a three-and-out, the Dragons went on a 13-play march that got down to the Grizzlies’ 4 yard line. But the Grizzlies made two big plays on third and fourth down to stop the threat with 2:29 to play in the period.
Butler put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Sanders burst up the middle for an 80-yard TD run for a 28-10 lead with 11:30 to play.
“We definitely have to work on being better tacklers in the open field,” Rhaodes said. “It’s tough to take. Fundamentals got us tonight.”
Kickoff for HCC’s season finale next Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium with Coffeyville is 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES – HCC punter Kody Cook averaged 41.3 yards per punt with a long of 53 yards and three punts downed inside the 20 yard line. … HCC is now 43-41-1 vs. Butler all time and 22-16-1 in games played in Hutchinson. … HCC’s 13-game winning streak tied for the second longest in program history. The last 13-game streak came from 1946 to 1948. … Cordarrelle Patterson upped his career receptions to 97, has 1,662 career receiving yards (85 yards short of Lonnie Crittendon’s record) and has 29 career touchdowns. … Patterson went from 10th to a tie for fifth in single-season receiving yards with 754 yards. He is now tied for second in single-season touchdowns with 17. … Elliott Alford moved from sixth to fourth on the single-season passing list with 1,853 yards. … HCC was 33 of 40 in red zone conversions entering the Butler game.