COFFEYVILLE – The 15th-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team finally broke the stigma of Coffeyville’s Veterans Memorial Stadium with a big second half and earned a Region VI home semifinal game after a 42-17 victory over the No. 17 Red Ravens on Saturday night.
Hutchinson (7-2, 5-1 Jayhawk Conference) will play Coffeyville (6-3, 4-2) for a second-straight week, but this time the teams will play at Gowans Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 6 for the Region VI semifinals. It will be the first playoff meeting between Hutchinson and Coffeyville since 2004.
Entering play in Saturday night, the Blue Dragons were 0-7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Blue Dragons trailed 7-6 at halftime and were down 17-14 with 14:51 to play in the fourth quarter. But the Blue Dragons regained the offensive form that already netted a school record total of points with 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win going away.
Several Blue Dragons provided the second-half spark for the Blue Dragons.
Missing most of the last three games with injury, freshman running back Terrell Lane returned to lead HCC in rushing with 122 yards on six carries and two touchdowns, including a back-breaking 85-yard jaunt down the sideline that tied for the fifth-longest run from scrimmage in school history that gave Hutch a 28-17 lead with 9:15 to play in the fourth quarter.
Freshman receiver Jatavious Stewart had a game-high 233 all-purpose yards with two touchdowns. His 66-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter was the first spark of the game that, with a two-point conversion, tied the game at 14-all midway through the third quarter. Stewart, running out of the “Wildcat” formation, rushed 11 times for 59 yards. He caught five passes for 83 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown pass from Elliott Alford that gave the Blue Dragons the lead for good at 21-17 with 11:32 to play in the fourth quarter.
Receiver Cordarrelle Patterson also ran out of the “Wildcat” and ran several reverses, running for 86 yards on five carries, including a 62-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Patterson had three receptions for 16 yards and became the first Blue Dragon receiver with 100 career receptions.
The Blue Dragons rushed for 343 yards and had 480 yards total offense. The Dragons rushed for 192 yards in the fourth quarter alone and outgained Coffeyville 244-92 in the fourth quarter.
Alford completed 11 of 15 passes for 137 yards and one touchdown pass. Alford tied PJ Peters’ single-season record for touchdown passes with 26. Alford also rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, linebacker Tim Edmond had a huge night with 20 tackles and one interception. Safety Spencer Vanderbogart had 10 tackles.
Coffeyville quarterback Najee Taylor threw for 315 yards, the most against the Blue Dragons this season. Taylor completed 18 of 37 passes for one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Ravens had 464 total yards of offense, with 149 rushing yards and 315 yards in the air.
Coffeyville turned the first of three Blue Dragon turnovers into points to take a 7-0 lead in the second quarter. After an Alford interception, the Ravens went 96 yards in five plays and scored on an 81-yard bomb from Taylor to Jordan Jenkins with 12:57 to play in the quarter. The Blue Dragons responded with a 12-play, 61-yard scoring march on their next possession. Alford scored from 1-yard out, but the extra-point try was blocked and the Dragons trailed 7-6 with 3:58 to play in the second quarter. That was the halftime score.
The Ravens cashed in on another turnover, a muffed punt at the Dragon 2. Two plays later, Taylor ran a quarterback sneak from a yard out for a 14-6 lead with 12:57 to play in the third quarter.
The teams traded punts, but when Coffeyville returned the ball to HCC, Stewart took the ball at the Dragon 34, went left, got three huge blocks and scored his first career return touchdown, going 66 yards into the end zone. Alford hit Miguel Johns with the two-point conversion and the game was tied at 14-14 with 5:22 to play in the third quarter.
Coffeyville then went 72 yards in 12 plays and took a 17-14 lead on Justin Hamacher’s 27-yard field goal just 9 seconds in the fourth quarter. From that point, the Blue Dragons regained their big-play capability to break the game open.
On HCC’s second possession of the second quarter, Alford linked up with Stewart on a 47-yard touchdown reception to give the Dragons a 21-17 lead with 11:32 to play. The Dragons forced another Coffeyville punt that was downed at the HCC 7. Two plays later, Lane rumbled 85 yards for a touchdown and a 28-17 lead with 9:15 to go.
The Dragons forced another three-and-out and then had their sixth one-play scoring drive when Patterson went 62 yards out of the “Wildcat” for a 35-17 lead with 7:54 to play.
Edmond’s interception set up the Dragons’ final score when Lane scored from 9 yards out to cap a two-play, 33 yard scoring march for a 42-17 lead.
The Dragons will now meet Coffeyville at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6 in the Region VI semifinals.
GAME NOTES – The Dragons are now 20-54-4 all time vs. Coffeyville and 7-33 in games at Coffeyville. HCC is 1-7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium. … The Dragons are 2-1 vs. ranked teams in 2011. … The Dragons rallied from a halftime deficit for the fourth time under Rion Rhoades (4-15). … Patterson scored his 30th career touchdown, one behind Mack Herron’s record of 31 career scores. … Patterson is now second in single-season TDs with 18. … Alford surpassed the 4,000-yard total offense mark with 4,149 yards. … The Blue Dragons had their fifth kickoff or punt return for touchdown this season.