HUTCHINSON, Ks — The fifth-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team had a record-setting first half to defeat the Highland Scotties 58-35 in a Jayhawk Conference battle on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium.
The 8-0 Blue Dragons clinch a tie for the program’s first Jayhawk Conference football championship since 1995. HCC is now 7-0 in the conference with one KJCCC game remaining against Independence on Nov. 8. Highland falls to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Jayhawk Conference.
The victory was also the 60th for Blue Dragon coach Rion Rhoades at Hutchinson.
The Blue Dragons broke a program record for points in half, scoring 52 points in the opening half on Saturday. That beat the 49 points scored in the first half against Highland in a 90-7 victory over the Scotties in 2011.
Hutchinson had 385 total yards in the first half, passing for 324 yards and rushing for 61. The Blue Dragons also tied a team record for touchdown passes with six – four by Dalton Demos and two from Kylen Binn. The Dragons scored on eight of 11 first-half possessions (seven touchdowns, one field goal).
For the game, Highland held Hutchinson to a season-low 139 rushing yards. But three Blue Dragon quarterbacks combined for a season-high 376 passing yards. HCC scored a season-high 58 points amassing 515 total yards.
Demos was 10 of 17 passing for 182 yards and four touchdowns. Binn was 11 of 22 for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Ethan Loder was 1 of 1 for 20 yards.
Anthony Autry caught a season-high eight passes for 96 yards and three touchdowns. Alvin Kamara caught a 54-yard TD pass and had three catches for 77 yards. Juwan Dickey had two receptions, both for touchdowns, for 65 yards. Eight different Blue Dragons caught passes in the game.
Bradan Smith and Tory Smith tied for the team rushing lead with 41 yards each. Kamara was held to 36 rushing yards, but only on eight carries. HCC was held to a season-low 3.2 yards per rush.
Highland racked up 352 total yards of offense – 65 rushing and 287 passing yards.
Danton Cosentino came off the bench in the second half to completed 20 of 30 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Troy Grant caught six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Twelve different Highland players caught passes.
The Blue Dragons scored on their first possession for the third-straight game, going 61 yards in seven plays. The drive was capped off by a 26-yard Demos-to-Dickey touchdown pass for a 7-0 HCC lead with 12:19 to play in the opening quarter.
HCC forced a three-and-own and took over at the Hutch 10. A mishandled Blue Dragon lateral pass turned into a Tyree Horton 2-yard fumble return for a Scotty touchdown, which tied the game at 7-7 with 9:35 to play in the half.
Two possessions later, after a Tyler Williams fumble recovery at the Highland 24, the Dragons scored in two plays. Autry hauled in a Binn 23-yard TD strike and HCC regained the lead at 14-7 with 6:36 remaining in the opening quarter. Two possessions after that, Hutch made it 21-7 when Autry caught a 10-yard strike from Demos with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Blue Dragons outscored Highland 31-6 in the second quarter, racking up 212 of HCC’s 253 yards of total offense in the period through the air.
HCC made is 28-7 with 12:28 to play in the period on Kamara’s 9-yard touchdown run. That score was the start of six-straight possessions in which HCC put points on the board. After Steve Williams’ 7-yard touchdown pass on fourth down pulled the Scotties within 28-13, HCC scored 24 unanswered to close the half.
Kassidy Lemons kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8:10 left to push the Hutch advantage of 31-13. Less than 2 minutes later, Kamara took a screen pass from Demos and weaved his way through the Highland defense for a 54-yard touchdown and a 38-13 lead with 6:31 remaining. Less than 2 minutes after that, Dickey caught his second touchdown pass of the game, a 39-yard strike from Demons for a 45-13 lead.
Then HCC worked the 2-minute offense to perfection, going 42 yards in five plays in 1:00. Binn threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Autry with 47 seconds to play in the opening half for a 52-13 lead.
The second half was a much different story as HCC played several backups for a majority of the second half. Highland outscored Hutchinson 22-6. The Scotties had 227 total yards in the second half, 224 yards were passing. The Dragons, meanwhile, were limited to 130 total yards, 48 coming on their only scoring drive of the second half.
Tory Smith scored his first career rushing touchdown with a 10-yard bolt up the middle with 1:13 remaining in the contest.
The Blue Dragons received a bit of help on Saturday at No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast was upset by Copiah-Lincoln on Saturday 29-26. Hutchinson will now travel to No. 2 Iowa Western for a match-up with national implications next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
GAME NOTES – HCC head coach Rion Rhoades moved into sole possession of third place on the Games Coached list with 87, breaking a tie with Bill Goldsmith. … HCC is now 31-2 all-time against Highland, including 19-0 at Gowans Stadium. … The 35 points scored by Highland was the most the Scotties have ever scored against HCC. … HCC’s 8-0 start is the fourth-best in program history. … Now with 364 total points for the season, the 2014 Blue Dragons moved into ninth place on the team season scoring list. … Alvin Kamara becomes just the third Blue Dragon ever to score at least 20 touchdowns in a season. … Kamara is now third on HCC’s single-season scoring list with 120 points. That also places him in a three-way tie for eighth on the career points list with Lonnie Crittendon and Jamison Palmer. … The Dragons had an interception for the 16th consecutive game. … Lakel Bass had his third interception of the season, which ties Darius Wright for team-high honors.
(HCC Sports Information)