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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sophomore running back
La’Darrian Page ran for a season-high 198 yards and two touchdowns, while
the Hutchinson Community College defense scored for the third time this
season as the Blue Dragons ran through Dodge City 40-6 in a Jayhawk
Conference clash on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium.
Hutchinson (2-1, 1-1 Jayhawk
Conference) snaps a five-game losing streak to Dodge City.
Page helped the Blue Dragons
rush for 300 for the first time this season, rushing for a season-high 302
yards and four rushing touchdowns. The Blue Dragons controlled the ball for
38 minutes, 19 seconds, including a staggering 13 minutes, 54 seconds in the
third quarter alone.
HCC ran the ball on 65 of 69
offensive plays against the Conquistadors.
Meanwhile, the Blue Dragon
defense turned in dominating performance, holding Dodge City to 174 total
yards, the second-straight game to hold an opponent to less than 200 total
yards. The seventh-ranked rushing defense in the nation, HCC held the
Conquistadors (0-4, 0-3) to just 49 yards on the ground.
“Defense played really
good,” said sophomore defensive lineman Eugene Kinlaw, who had six tackles
and three tackles for loss. “We had good practices all week and it all
opened up for us tonight.”
Kinlaw forced a safety in
the second quarter, which is the third time this season that the defense has
scored. It’s the first time in 71 games (the 2001 season opener at
Independence) that the Blue Dragon defense has forced a safety.
“We expect that from our
defense,” HCC head coach Rion Rhoades said. “That’s not something that we
feel is icing on the cake. That’s what we want to do. We want to be
aggressive.”
Even the special teams got
in on the act against Dodge City. After the Conquistadors scored a touchdown
to cut the HCC lead to 9-6, freshman Gage McKinnis took the ensuing kickoff
and returned it 97 yards – the second-longest kickoff return in program
history – for a touchdown and a 16-6 lead late in the second quarter.
“When you get a return, it’s
big. It put the momentum back on our side,” McKinnis said. “It kind of
opened up later, but the guys maintained their blocks and it was a great
effort on all of our parts. They went to the whistle and it opened up and we
got the return.”
In addition to Page’s big
night – he’s had two 100-yard rushing games in three outings this season –
freshman Chris Clay ran the ball 18 times for 60 yards – both season highs –
and his first career touchdown. Freshman Trezz Tillman ran nine times for 38
yards and his first career touchdown.
Dragon running backs
averaged 4.6 yards per carry against Dodge City.
“The offensive line did a
fantastic job of getting some movement and creating some seams,” Rhoades
said. “The backs did a good job of hitting hit and holding onto the
football. That’s really what we wanted to do. The third quarter was a
tremendous stretch of time for our team. We were able to shut them down
offensively and our offense had the ball 14 of the 15 minutes in the third
quarter. That was a real pivotal part of the game.”
Dodge City back-up
quarterback Jean Julmiste was Dodge City’s leading rusher with 52 yards on
14 carries. Julmiste completed just six passes in 15 attempts for 112 yards.
Hutchinson’s defense – led
by sophomore linebacker Jamin Raigoza’s nine total tackles and six by
sophomore Thatcher Starling and Kinlaw – had 10 tackles for loss, including
five quarterback sacks.
After forcing a
three-and-out to start the game, the Blue Dragons started their ball-control
offense, going 43 yards in 12 plays – all runs- and converted one fourth
down to score on its opening drive for the second time in three games. Page
finished off the drive with a 2-yard plunge and a 7-0 lead with 5:45 to play
in the first quarter.
A Clinton Stein 40-yard punt
downed at the Dodge City 4 set up the Blue Dragons’ next score. Kinlaw
corralled Dodge City running back Jacquese Seward in the end zone for a
safety and a 9-0 HCC lead with 7:53 to play in the second quarter.
Dodge City caught a break
late in the second quarter when Joey Garcia recovered a Blue Dragon fumble
at the HCC 32. The Dragons were one play from holding the Conquistadors, but
Julmiste connected with Scott Donaldson on fourth-and-6 for a 28-yard
touchdown pass with 3:50 to play in the half. Thad Williams blocked the
extra point and HCC led 9-6.
The Dragons responded right
away on the ensuing kickoff when McKinnis received the ball at the 3-yard
line and patiently worked his way to midfield before breaking away for a
97-yard touchdown on the return and a 16-6 lead after Kelly Roberts’ extra
point with 3:32 to play.
Hutchinson literally owned
the third quarter. HCC took the second-half kickoff and methodically went 80
yards in 14 plays – all running plays – in 7 minutes, 54 seconds. The drive
was capped by Clay’s first collegiate touchdown, a 5-yard run for a 23-6
Dragon lead with 6:59 to play in the quarter.
The Dragons forced a
three-and-own and took over with 5:53 to play in the quarter. HCC ran the
clock out and completed a 12-play, 51-yard march with a Roberts' 20-yard
field goal for a 26-6 lead with 14:18 to play in the fourth quarter.
HCC got the ball back and
Page wowed the Blue Dragon faithful with a scintillating 50-yard touchdown
run for a 33-6 lead with 11:15 to play.
The Dragons held on downs
and completing their final scoring march of the night on a Tillman 1-yard
run to cap off a nine-play, 59 yard march in 4:19 to lead 40-6 with 4:15 to
play.
The Blue Dragons will play
host to No. 12 Fort Scott next Saturday night at Gowans Stadium.
GAME NOTES
– This was program victory No. 399. … This was the first time in 24 games
that HCC has scored 40 points. … It’s the first time in seven games against
Dodge City to score 40 or more points vs. the Conquistadors. … HCC is now
40-33-4 against Dodge City. … Tight ends caught the only passes for HCC on
Saturday night. Dustin Weissbeck caught a 14-yard pass and sophomore Galen
Haaga caught a 6-yard pass. Both were for first downs. … Gage McKinnis had
three kickoff returns for 147 yards and had one 14-yard punt return. … HCC
punter Clinton Stein had just one punt on Saturday night. He had 12 punts in
his first two games. … Kelly Roberts was a perfect 5 of 5 on extra points.
He was just 2 of 5 in his first two games.
HCC-DODGE CITY BOXSCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head coach Rion Rhoades
On Gage McKinnis’ kickoff
return’s effect on the game’s momentum …
“The score was a positive
for them. The block of the extra point was good for us, but the kickoff
return for a touchdown, those take the breath out of you, especially after
you do something good. We’ve been close on several of them. Gage just did a
good job of continuing to run and finish the play.”
On Gage McKinnis …
“Gage is courageous young
man. He’s a gutty player. He’s tough. He played hurt tonight. It means the
world to him and that’s a great illustration of who Gage McKinnis is. He’s a
tough guy.”
On the defense …
“We played a lot of base
defense tonight. We didn’t blitz five times tonight. The D-line did a good
job of controlling the line of scrimmage.”
On the running game …
“Everybody from the
president of our college all the way to our coaches and players have been
anxious to have a great running game and to have some backs who could take
it to the house once the got into the open.”
Freshman Kelly Roberts
On his improved night
kicking …
“I’ve been working on
getting my height back up from the transition from the tee to the ground. I
had a couple of kicks in the first game that were very low. I sat down
(during the bye week), watched a little film and critiqued myself.”
Sophomore La’Darrian Page
On his big night …
“It felt great. The
offensive line did a great job. Coach told us to stick with it and we would
break one, so I kept pushing and the offensive line opened up a hole and I
just hit it.”
On HCC’s depth at running
back …
“It had a lot of two with
having two good running backs. Both are fresh and the offensive line did a
really great job of opening holes for us to run through. We did a good job
of running hard and keeping our feet.”
On rebounding from the
Highland loss …
“It was very important. We
bounced back off a two week span of not playing. We still had a sour taste
in our mouth from the last game and we just wanted to put some points on the
board and get the victory.” |
