For the third-straight season and fourth time in five years, the Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons will play the Butler Grizzlies in the Region VI championship football game.

The 2012 regional championship will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11 at BG Products Stadium in El Dorado. The game will be videostreamed live on the Blue Dragon Sports Network and on radio on KHUT-FM (102.9) and KWBW-AM (1450) at 1:20 p.m.

Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. Tickets, which can be purchased online on the Butler athletic web site, are $20 for reserved, while general admission seats are $5 and $10.

Two weeks ago, the Blue Dragons had an opportunity to play host to the Region VI championship game, but dropped a 40-7 decision to the Grizzlies at Gowans Stadium. Hutchinson had four costly turnovers in that contest and Butler ran its winning streak over Hutchinson to 20 games.

The rematch was set up by both teams winning in decisive fashion in last week’s Region VI semifinals. The Blue Dragons jumped out to a huge lead early in the third quarter before finishing off third-seed Coffeyville 52-28. The Grizzlies steadily pulled away from fourth-seed Garden City in a 58-17 victory in El Dorado.

Hutchinson bids for its first Region VI/Jayhawk Conference championship since 1995. Before the current streak of 4 times in 5 seasons, the 1995 championship team was the last time that Hutchinson had appeared in the title game.

With rare exception, Butler has been a routine participant in the Region VI championship game under Troy Morrell. The only year since 1998 that the Grizzlies haven’t played in the championship game was 2005.

Two of the nation’s best offenses will be featured in the 2012 Region VI Championship game. Butler ranks No. 2 in scoring offense in the NJCAA (58.1 points per game), while the Blue Dragons are fifth in the nation (48.6 ppg).

Both offenses feature accurate, productive quarterbacks in HCC’s Luke Barnes (who broke three single-season passing records last week) and Butler’s Sam Cosh. Both teams feature game-breaking backs and receivers.

In last year’s game, the last played at Galen Blackmore Stadium, the Blue Dragons dropped a 40-21 decision.

Region VI Championship Game
No. 12 Hutchinson (8-2) at No. 2 Butler (10-0)
When: Sunday, November 11, 2012
Kickoff: 1:30 p.m.
At: BG Products Stadium, El Dorado, KS
Capacity: 5,000
Playing Surface: FieldTurf
Series Record: Series tied 43-43-1
Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9), KWBW-AM (1450), 1:20 p.m.
Live webcast: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 1:20 p.m.
Live Stats: BlueDragonSports.com

The Coaches
Hutchinson: Rion Rhoades is in his sixth season with the Blue Dragons. His HCC record is 43-21 in his sixth season at Hutchinson and is 50-26 in seven overall seasons. On Sept. 8 against Garden City, Rhoades surpassed Bill Goldsmith for third place on the HCC coaching wins list.

Butler: Troy Morrell is in his 12th season with the Grizzlies. He has amassed a 136-16 record overall with 11 conference and three national championships.

Blue Dragon Region VI Playoff History
This will be the 40th Region VI/Jayhawk Conference playoff game in Blue Dragon postseason history. HCC has also appeared in 16 junior college bowl games.

HCC qualified for the four-team Region VI playoffs for the fifth-straight season. The 2008 Region VI Playoffs were the first postseason games for HCC since 2005, and the first since Region VI revamped its playoff format before the 2006 season.

Last week, the No. 16 Blue Dragons downed Coffeyville 52-28 at Gowans Stadium to keep HCC’s home playoff record perfect.

Hutchinson is 19-20 in postseason games not including bowl games.

Hutchinson is 15-0 in playoff games at Gowans Stadium, 4-18 on the road and 0-1 on neutral fields.

HCC went 11-3 in the quarterfinals before that round was dropped after 2005. The Dragons are 7-12 in semifinal games, going 5-0 in semifinal matches at Gowans Stadium.

Hutch is 1-5 in Region VI championship games – also appearing in 1982, 1994, 1995. 2008, 2010 and 2011.

HCC defeated Coffeyville 58-26 in the 2011 semifinals at Gowans Stadium before falling to Butler 40-21 in the championship game at El Dorado.

About the Blue Dragons
Offense: Posting 52 points and 535 yards of total offense, the Blue Dragon offense got back to what it was doing in the first seven weeks of the season.

Now No. 5 in the NJCAA in total yardage and No. 5 in scoring offense, the Blue Dragons re-ignited an offense that has posted three 700-yard games this season, but misfired in the two games preceding the Region VI semifinals.

Freshman Luke Barnes is once again No. 1 in the NJCAA in passing at 302.3 yards per game. Last week against Coffeyville, Barnes broke single-season team records for passing yards (3,023), touchdown passes (35) and total offense (3,021). He is completing 64.7 percent of his passes (244 of 377). He has thrown 35 touchdown passes to seven interceptions. Barnes has completed at least 21 passes to five different receivers.

Sophomore Antonio Johnson has team-single-season record 65 receptions for 790 yards and 11 touchdowns. Sophomore Jatavius Stewart, who has missed three games with injuries, has 55 receptions for 762 yards and nine scores. Sophomore Miguel Johns has 49 catches for 800 yards and eight touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Terrell Lane had his streak of consecutive 100-yards games snapped last week at nine,  including three of 200-plus and a school-record 309 yards, this season. Lane still leads the NJCAA in rushing with 1,537 yards (now No. 2 on HCC’s single-season rushing list) on 233 carries. He is averaging 6.6 yards per carry and has 15 rushing touchdowns.

Freshman Orange Mooney missed two weeks with an injury, returned last week against Coffeyville and ran for 114 yards, is averaging 55.6 yards per game and 6.9 yards per carry. LaQua Mayes had a career-high 168 yards against Independence on Oct. 13. He is averaging 39.4 yards per game.

The Blue Dragons are averaging 48.6 points per game, 26.6 first downs, 224.6 rushing yards, 311.8 passing yards and 536.4 total yards per game.

Defense: After three rough outings to start the season, the Blue Dragon defense has shown tremendous improvement in the final two-thirds of the season.

In HCC’s first three games, the defense was stung for averages of 43.0 points, 212.0 rushing yards and 271.7 passing yards per game. Over the next five games, the Blue Dragons have surrendered averages of 8.6 points, 70.8 rushing yards, 142.8 passing yards and 213.6 total yards per game.

Linebacker Kenny Flowers took over the team lead in tackles with 88 tackles. He also has a safety to his credit. Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell has 75 total tackles and an interception return for a touchdown. Linebacker Brock Long has 61 tackles.

Freshman Terell Hannah has 51 total tackles and five interceptions, which is tied for 11th in the NJCAA. He also has two fumble recoveries and three passes defended. Christian Goodlett (58 tackles) and Shattle Fenteng (51 tackles) both have three INTs.

Special Teams: Michael Mesh continues his sizzling start to his sophomore season. Mesh has totaled 86 points to move into third place on the HCC career scoring list. He is 57 of 62 on extra points and is 9 of 10 on field goals, knocking through a career-long 43-yarder against Navarro on Sept. 1.

Terrell Lane and Luke Barnes are splitting the punting chores. Lane is averaging 41.9 yards per boot and Barnes is averaging 35.3 yards per punt.

Jatavius Stewart leads at 23.5 yards per return with a long of 62 yards. Kody Cook is averaging 21.8 yards per return and Antonio Johnson is averaging 20.5 yards per return and Johns is averaging 21.7 per return.

About the Grizzlies
Offense: Pulling the trigger on the No. 2 scoring offense and the No. 4 total offense in the NJCAA is James Madison University transfer quarterback Bill Cosh. He ranks No. 6 in the NJCAA in passing. He ranks No. 1 in the NJCAA in passing accuracy at 71 percent (213 of 299) for 2,699 yards. He’s thrown for 24 touchdowns and has been intercepted six times.

The Grizzlies have a vaunted rushing attack led by Dreamius Smith, who is just 55 yards shy of becoming the third Jayhawk Conference running back this season to rush for 1,000 yards. Smith is third in the league with 953 rushing yards. He is averaging 8.8 yards per carry with 17 rushing touchdowns.

Derrick Thomas is averaging 76.8 yards (110 att., 614 yards) with eight touchdowns. Ty Suggs is averaging 52.0 yards (67 att., 520 yards) with seven touchdowns.

Receiver Javess Blue, who had a 16-reception game against Coffeyville, has team highs of 60 receptions for 1,028 yards and 12 touchdowns. Jacob Hurla has 31 catches for 505 yards and five scores. Eight different Butler receivers have at least 12 receptions. Nine different receivers have caught touchdown passes.

The Grizzlies are averaging 58.1 points per game, 235.2 yards rushing, 300.4 yards passing and 535.6 total yards per game. The Grizzlies have had 11 giveaways in 10 games.

Butler has topped 60 points five, times, 70 points three times and 80 points twice. The lowest scoring output with 28 points against Blinn on Sept. 1. The Grizzlies have dominated the second halves of games. In the first half, the Grizzlies are outscoring opponents 284-80, but in the second halves, Butler has allowed just 19 points, while scoring 303.

Defense: Butler’s defense can be described in three words – mobile, agile and hostile.

The Grizzlies rank No. 3 in scoring defense in the NJCAA, allowing 9.9 points. Yards are hard to come by for Butler opponents. The Grizzlies lead the Jayhawk Conference in total defense at 250.8 yards per game, rushing defense at 90.2 yards per game and No.1 in passing defense at 160.6 yards per game.

The Grizzlies also have a league-best 43 quarterback sacks and league the conference in takeaways with 36, making Butler a plus-25 in turnover ratio, also a Jayhawk Conference-high.

Linebacker Blake Bean, a two-time Jayhawk Conference Defensive Player of the Week, leads Butler with 103 tackles, which is third in the league. Tommy Sanders and Tim McGaha are tied for the team lead with seven quarterback sacks with seven. Marcus Dillard has six interceptions, while Torrell Saffold had four picks.

Special Teams: Placekicker Robert Rawlings has had a huge season for the Grizzlies, scoring 93 total points, which is second on the team. Rawlings is 78 of 80 on point-after touchdown attempts and 5 of 7 on field goals with a long of 32.

Punter Ty Suggs is averaging 37.4 yards per attempts on 34 punts.

The Grizzlies are extremely dangerous on returns. As a team, Butler is averaging 21.2 yards per kickoff return. Blue is averaging 25.7 yards on 10 returns with a long of 56 to lead the team.

Michael Glatczak has a 75-yard TD punt return and averages 17.9 per return on 20 returns. The Grizzlies as a team are averaging 18.1 yards per punt return.

The Grizzlies have blocked eight kicks this season, two each by Tate Omli and Ufomba Kamalu.

Series History
This is the 88th meeting all-time between Hutchinson and Butler in a series that dates back to 1929. It will be the sixth meeting in the last three seasons between HCC and Butler.

The overall series is now tied at 43-43-1. Hutchinson leads the series in games played at Gowans Stadium 22-17-1. Butler leads the series in El Dorado 25-21. The Grizzlies lead playoff meetings 5-2.

Butler has won 20 straight games with HCC. The Blue Dragons own a 17-game winning streak over the Grizzlies from 1858-74. From 1958 to 1979, the Blue Dragons were 20-0-1 vs. the Grizzlies.

Game Notables
+ HCC Football all-time: The Blue Dragons have an all-time football record of 438-316-28 in their 81st year of football. HCC is 308-234-18 in Jayhawk Conference games.

+ Blue Dragons in the NJCAA poll: The Blue Dragons are ranked 12th in the NJCAA football poll this week. HCC football has been ranked in 39 consecutive and 48 of the last 50 NJCAA football polls.

+ HCC vs. ranked foes: Hutchinson is now 11-14 against NJCAA-ranked competition under Rion Rhoades. Previous, HCC dropped 22 of 23 to ranked teams.

+ High-scoring Dragons: In the last 45 games, Hutchinson has broken the 50-point mark 18 times. The Dragons have broken the 60-point mark 11 times, the 70-point mark four times and own the modern-day single-game scoring record of 90 points, scored against Highland last season.

+ HCC in the red zone: The Blue Dragons converted on 32 of their first 34 trips into the red zone this season. Through 10 games, HCC is 39 of 45 in the red zone with 33 red zone touchdowns.

+ Lane hitting century mark: Running back Terrell Lane had his streak of nine-straight 100-yard rushing games snapped in the Region VI semifinals last week. He has 10 100-yard games for this career.

+ Dragons enjoy home cooking: Since the start of 2008, the Blue Dragons have a 25-3 record at Gowans Stadium.

(HCC Sports Information)