DODGE CITY – The No. 5 Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons overcame two first-half turnovers, a bad punt snap out of the end zone and a ton of penalties to defeat the Dodge City Conquistadors 43-26 in a Jayhawk Conference contest on Saturday at Dodge City’s Memorial Stadium.
The Blue Dragons start the season 5-0 for the first time since 2010 and for the sixth time in program history.
Now 3-0 in the Jayhawk Conference, the Blue Dragons will travel to No. 19 Coffeyville (4-1, 3-0) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Coffeyville.
One year ago at Dodge City, the Blue Dragons committed four turnovers and had numerous other mistakes in 40-34 overtime loss to the Conquistadors. After their first two offensive plays on Saturday, there were flashbacks to last season and the potential to be down 14-0 just minutes into the game. Instead, the Blue Dragon defense minimized the damage, limiting Dodge City to just five points.
On the first play of the game, HCC fumbled at the Dragon 24. Dodge City (2-3, 2-1) settled for a 40-yard Dillon Burkhart field goal. On Hutchinson’s next play, the Conquistadors forced a second fumble at the HCC 25 and had a chance to recover the bouncing ball in the end zone. The Blue Dragons caught a break as the ball rolled out the back of the end zone for a safety and Dodge City led 5-0 with 12:16 remaining in the first quarter.
After the free kick following the safety, the Conquistadors were on the move again, but the defense thwarted the advance when sophomore Marquavius Lewis sacked Dodge quarterback Deondre Ford, forcing a fumble that Darius Wright recovered and returned to the HCC 49.
The Blue Dragons answered with a 12-play, 51-yard march all on the ground with all three running backs getting carries. HCC finished off the drive with a Travis Custis 3-yard TD run and HCC led 7-5 with 7:09 to play in the opening quarter.
That was the first of five lead changes in the game. HCC led 14-12 at halftime, 23-19 after three quarters and broke the game open with a 20-7 fourth quarter.
Hutchinson’s defense played huge, holding the Conquistadors to a negative 22-yards rushing and 216 total yards. HCC’s defense forced three takeaways, had 12 tackles for loss including five quarterback sacks, 11 quarterback hurries and a season-high eight passes broken up.
Linebacker Darius Wright had 11 total tackles, a fumble recovery, an interception and quarterback hurry. Defensive back Riley Hunsicker had nine tackles, while Lewis had eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks, a forced fumble and two quarterback hurries.
Offensively, the Dragons broke 300 yards rushing for the third time this season, going for 345 yards and five rushing touchdowns. HCC had 490 total yards.
Running back Alvin Kamara rushed for three touchdowns and a game-high 165 yards on 32 carries. Bradan Smith rushed for a career-high 123 yards on 10 carries, a touchdown and a career-best 63-yard long run. It’s the second time this season that two HCC backs have rushed for 100 yards in a single game.
Quarterback Kylen Binn came off the bench to complete 7 of 10 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. Binn completed two huge third-down passes in the fourth quarter, which led to an HCC touchdown that made it a two-possession game.
Anthony Autry had two receptions for 77 yards and a 42-yard touchdown reception.
With HCC leading 7-5 in the first quarter and going against a strong southerly wind, the Blue Dragons were set to punt their 44 and the punt snap went over the head of HCC punter Stetson Broce. He chased it down at the HCC 2 and ran to the 5 before being tackled, giving up the ball on downs.
It took four plays, but Dodge City finally cashed in on a Ford-to-Christian Booker 21-yard touchdown pass to give the Conquistadors a 12-7 lead with 14:47 to play in the second quarter.
HCC answered right back with an eight-play, 53-yard scoring march. Kamara capped off the march with an eye-popping 1-yard leap over the pile to give Hutchinson a 14-12 lead with 12:23 to play in the second quarter.
Lead change No. 4 came after HCC came up short on a fake punt a midfield. Dodge City reclaimed the lead on a seven-play, 49-yard drive and took a 19-14 lead on Toma King’s 1-yard touchdown with 5:48 remaining in the third quarter.
The Dragons rode the ground game for lead change No. 5 as they traveled all 71 yards with Kamara and Custis carrying the load on an eight-play scoring drive that was capped by Kamara’s second score of the game, this one from 5-yards out for a 21-19 lead with 3:41 to play in the third quarter.
HCC forced a three-and-out and got a 6-yard punt into the wind, but offsetting penalties forced the replay of fourth down. On the second punt, a low snap bounced out of the back of the end zone for a Hutchinson safety and the Dragons led 23-19 with 1:55 to play in the third.
Both teams traded punts on their next two possessions and HCC took over at the Dragon 22. Binn completed third-down passes of 21 yards to DeQuan Bowman on third-and-14 and Autry for 35 yards on third-and-4 to set up Smith’s 15-yard touchdown run for a two-possession lead at 30-19 with 8:17 to play.
After forcing another Dodge City three-and-out, the Dragons took complete control when on the first play of the series, Binn connected with Autry on a 42-yard TD play for a 37-19 Dragon lead with 7:05 to go.
Dodge City scored to make it 37-26, but Hutchinson answered back with a four-play, 43-yard march capped off by Kamara’s third touchdown of the game where he took an inside run, spun away from a tackle and bounced it outside and down the sideline for the score.
The Blue Dragons held Dodge City to a minus-28 rushing yards and 25 total yards in the fourth quarter.
GAME NOTES – The other seasons that HCC has started a season 5-0 are 1936, 1947, 1948, 1969 and 2010. … The Dragons are now 46-34-4 all-time vs. Dodge City and 21-21-2 in games played in Dodge City. … Alvin Kamara has seven touchdowns in his last two games. … This was the first time that HCC held an opponent to negative rushing yards since Dakota College in last year’s Salt City Bowl. … Since the start of the 2013 season, the Blue Dragons have had 33 interceptions and at least one pick in 13-stragiht games and 16 of the last 17.
(HCC Sports Information)