IOWA FALLS, Iowa – The No. 7-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team racked up a season-high 351 rushing yards and not one came from Alvin Kamara, the nation’s No. 6 rusher.

Travis Custis ran for more than 200 yards and Tory Smith ran for better than 100 as the Blue Dragons rattled off 38 unanswered points en route to a 38-7 victory over Ellsworth at a frigid Cadet Field.

The 9-1 Blue Dragons reach the nine-win mark in a season for the ninth time in program history. The Blue Dragons will close out the regular season, going after its first Jayhawk Conference championship since 1995 and first outright league crown since 1969 next Saturday against Independence at 1 p.m. at Gowans Stadium.

Kamara did not suit up for Saturday’s game after being injured one week before at Iowa Western.

That allowed the other running backs in a deep Blue Dragon stable to contribute. And contribute they did.

Custis ran for 201 yards on 27 carries to lead the Blue Dragon offense, scoring one touchdown. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry. Custis’ previous career high was 146 yards against Fort Scott in September.

Tory Smith broke the 100-yard plateau for the first time, running for 103 yards on just nine carries and one touchdown. Smith also made a big impact on special teams by recovering a loose football on a kickoff that led to a Kassidy Lemons field goal late in the second quarter.

Saturday was the third time this season that Hutchinson has had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a game. Custis is the second Blue Dragon to reach 200 yards this season.

Quarterback Dalton Demos played the entire game on Saturday, the first time this season that a Blue Dragon signal-caller has done that. Demos accounted for three touchdowns, completing 18 of 29 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Demos rushed for 34 yards on eight carries and had his first rushing touchdown of the season.

Anthony Autry caught six passes for 42 yards and one touchdown to lead the HCC receivers. DeQuan Bowman had three catches for 39 yards.

Hutchinson had 351 rushing yards on 50 carries and tied a season high with five rushing touchdowns. The Blue Dragons had 492 total yards on 79 plays.

Ellsworth (3-6) was held to 260 total yards and only 31 rushing yards on 37 carries. Ellsworth came into the game averaging 143.9 yards on the ground this season.

The Blue Dragons forced four takeaways which led to 24 Hutchinson points. HCC committed two turnovers.

Linebacker Claude George had a team-high 10 tackles, including a sack/fumble. Jeremiah Ledbetter had a career-high three quarterback sacks.

Ellsworth entered the Red Zone six times on Saturday and came away with points only once.

Jarrod Sanders had an interception, while Smith, Kyle Wilson and Lakel Bass all recovered fumbles.

Hutchinson took a 7-0 lead with 6:31 to go in the first quarter when Custis broke up the middle for a 58-yard touchdown run.

The Blue Dragons seized complete control of the game in the second with a 24-point period.

After Bass recovered an Ellsworth fumble, the Blue Dragons navigated 73 yards in seven plays to score for the second time. Bryce Harvey reeled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Demos for a 14-0 lead with 9:49 to play in the period.

Ellsworth turned it over again on its next possession after driving to the HCC 38. Sanders picked off Mitch Weiland and returned it 47 yards to Panther 20. Two plays later, Demos found Autry for a 19-yard touchdown strike and a 21-0 lead with 7:28 remaining in the half.

The Blue Dragons then forced a short Ellsworth punt and methodically navigated 40 yards on 10 plays as Demos capped off the drive with a scrambling 3-yard touchdown run for a 28-0 lead with 1:15 to play. HCC converted a fourth-down and third-down play on the drive.

Trying to avoid Ellsworth’s dangerous kick returner Tyrian Taylor, Kassidy Lemons pooched the ensuing kickoff away from Taylor and HCC’s Smith wound up recovering the loose football at the Panther 20. The Dragons weren’t able to punch it into the end zone, but settled for a 32-yard Lemons field goal for a 31-0 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the half.

Hutchinson out-rushed Ellsworth in the second half 110-10 and out-gained Ellsworth 154-57.

The Blue Dragons made it 38 unanswered points on their second possession of the second half when Smith gashed the Panther defense and sprinted 76 yards for a touchdown. The play was the longest play from scrimmage this season for HCC and it was the fourth play of 70 or more yards by the Dragons in 2014.

The Panthers ended Hutch’s shutout bid in the third quarter with a 10-play, 70 yard march that was capped off by Weiland’s 1-yard TD run with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter.

GAME NOTES – Of Hutchinson’s nine nine-win seasons, four have come in the Rion Rhoades era. … The Blue Dragons are 41-7 under Rhoades when they have a running back rush for at least 100 yards. … This was Hutchinson’s first meeting with Ellsworth since 1972. HCC is 2-0 vs. Ellsworth. … The 2014 Blue Dragons moved up three spots on the all-time team scoring chart to fourth with 426 points this season. … Travis Custis now has 722 yards rushing this season. … This was the third time in 2014 HCC has held an opponent to less than 50 rushing yards in a game. … HCC had 13 tackles for loss totaling 50 yards, including four quarterback sacks.