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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information
Director
Saturday, September 6, 2008
HIGHLAND – Two big plays by
the Highland Scotties – one on offense and one on defense – proved
disastrous for the Hutchinson Community College football team on Saturday as
the Blue Dragons bid to go 2-0 in a football season for the first time since
2004.
The Scotties had an 85-yard
touchdown on a screen pass and a 62-yard interception return for a touchdown
to help them upset the Blue Dragons 23-10 on Saturday afternoon at Kessinger
Field.
“They made big plays. It
was a defensive battle,” HCC head coach Rion Rhoades said. “They were
opportunistic. They won the turnover battle. We have to do a better job. We
dropped two interceptions; one would have been a touchdown.”
The Blue Dragons (1-1, 0-1
Jayhawk Conference) shut down Highland offensively, with the exception of
one play – an 85-yard touchdown on a screen play from Corey Ward to Paul
Valiant on second-and-15 with 3:44 left in the second quarter to give
Highland a 10-3 lead.
Hutchinson held Highland to
111 yards of total offense, including a minus-33 yards rushing. Still, the
Scotties made enough big plays and contained Hutchinson’s rushing game to
defeat the Dragons for the second-straight time at Kessinger Field and for
only the second time in the 27-game history of the series.
“I don’t feel like we ever
got the momentum,” Rhoades said. “We never got it going.”
Highland stacked eight
people in the box defensively trying to stop HCC’s rushing attack that went
for 296 yards last week against NEO. The Scotty defense held Hutchinson to
just 84 rushing yards on 39 carries and 184 yards of total offense.
The Scotties keyed on HCC
sophomore running back La’Darrian Page, hold him to 35 yards on 18 carries.
HCC quarterbacks were a combined 12 of 29 passing for 103 yards.
The Blue Dragons also
committed five turnovers, including four interceptions by HCC quarterbacks
Terry McKinnon and Bryant Johnson.
“We struggled establishing
the run,” McKinnon said. “We go off the run, but we weren’t on balance
throughout the day. We didn’t execute.”
The Scotties got on the
scoreboard first when Zak King booted a 23-yard field goal. That drive was
set up by a Chris Smith interception.
The Blue Dragons answered
with a 12-play 60-yard drive that took 6 minutes, 41 seconds that was capped
off by Kelly Roberts’ first collegiate field goal, a 38-yarder with 8:58 to
play to tie the game at 3-all.
HCC’s next offensive
possession went all the way to the Highland 7, but the Dragons had to settle
for a Roberts' 26-yard field goal attempt that was blocked. Two plays later,
on 2nd-and-15, the Blue Dragons were burned on the 85-yard screen
pass by Valiant and Highland led 10-3 with 3:44 to play in the second half.
“That blocked field goal
was a momentum play for them,” Rhoades said. “It was the drive immediate
following that that they got the touchdown.”
Three third-quarter HCC
drives ended in Clinton Stein punts, but the Dragons still trailed 10-3
after three quarters.
The play that broke the
Dragons’ back came with 12:37 to play when back-up quarterback Bryant
Johnson was intercepted by Marquise Hayden, who returned it 62 yards for a
touchdown and a 16-3 lead after Adam Davis blocked the extra point.
Highland made is 23-3 on a
short four-yard TD drive. The Dragons scored their only touchdown of the
contest when Page plunged over from 1 yard out to cap off a 12-play, 52-yard
drive to cut the lead to 23-10 with 47 seconds remaining.
“We are going to have to
keep getting better,” redshirt freshman Jacob Lattimer said. “Our
expectations can’t be shorter than being great. We are going to have to
practice hard in this off week and get prepared for our next game.”
The Blue Dragons will get
their bye week this coming week and then will play host to Dodge City at 7
p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Gowans Stadium.
GAME NOTES
– This is the largest
margin of defeat the Blue Dragons have suffered against Highland. … Jacob
Lattimer led the Blue Dragon defense with 12 total tackles, including 4.5
tackles for loss. … The 23 points scored by Highland tied for the most
scored vs. Hutchinson in series history, tying the 2000 regular-season game.
… Sophomore Jamin Raigoza had a career-high 10 tackles. … Sophomore Josh
Goffigan was the Blue Dragons’ leading receiver with four receptions for 34
yards. The four receptions were a career high for Goffigan. … The Blue
Dragons have had 10 turnovers in the first two games of the 2008 season. The
2007 Blue Dragons had just 16 turnovers all season long. … HCC’s defense is
now allowing opposing teams just 30.5 yards per game rushing through two
games.
BOXSCORE
HCC-HIGHLAND PHOTO
GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Rion Rhoades
On the overall defensive
play …
“We did a good job at times
defensively. The play that we let slide by us defensively was the screen
early in the game. They caught the screen pass and they slipped it down
their boundary. We have to do a better job of covering those.”
On the offense …
“We are trying to find what
works. When your offense is struggling, you search for things that will
work.”
On the Highland Scotties
…
“We knew they were going to
be good. They were good on film. Highland definitely could have won that
game last week. They controlled the game even though they didn’t win. Their
defense is very good.”
Quarterback Terry
McKinnon
On the overall defensive
play …
“We made adjustments on
different blocking schemes. They did a good job of preventing the big run.
We have to work on our overall execution.”
Linebacker Jacob
Lattimer
On shutting down the
Highland offense and still losing the game …
“It’s pretty frustrating,
but we gave it all we could and we made a few mistakes. We hope to learn
from for our next game.”
On losing after the NEO
win last week …
“It’s pretty tough. After a
big win last week, our spirits are going to be down. We are family and we
are going to have to stick together. This one is past us now.” |
