|
By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, August 29, 2009
MIAMI, Okla. – Sophomore
running back Chris Clay became the first Blue Dragon running back to rush
for more than 200 yards in a game since 1998 and lead the 13th-ranked
Hutchinson Community College football team to a resounding season-opening
victory on Saturday night at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
Clay rushed for a
career-high 231 yards and two touchdowns as the Blue Dragons scored 35
first-half points en route to a 48-27 victory over NEO in the Jayhawk
Conference-Southwest Junior College Football Conference challenge at
Robertson Field.
The Blue Dragons (1-0) even
their record in the KJCCC-SWJCFC Challenge at 2-2, sweeping NEO in both
meetings. The Golden Norsemen (0-1) falls to 2-2 in the challenge.
Hutchinson had 529 yards
total offense, rushing for 405 yards with five rushing touchdowns and
averaging 7.2 yards per carry. Six different backs had carries in the game.
“The offense did a really
nice job tonight,” HCC coach Rion Rhoades said. “We punted only twice, which
is great in a college football game. I’m proud of our effort. Our offensive
line did a great job all night.
“We have a lot of things to
fix, but we have to enjoy the win. It’s easy as a coach to dwell on things
that weren’t perfect. I chose to dwell on what we did right. We will get
better.”
Led by Clay, HCC’s rushing
attack was dominant. Clay, who had his fourth 100-yard game of his HCC
career, had surpassed his career high of 138 yards early in the second
quarter and had 185 yards by halftime. He had seven runs
of 10 or more yards in the first half alone.
“It feels good doing that in
the first game,” Clay said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work. It feels good
to do that in the first game of the season.”
The Blue Dragon offense
scored on 5 of 6 first-half possessions, rolling up 336 yards at halftime.
Clay started the scoring
with a 7-yard run that capped off a six-play, 44-yard drive with 11:23 to
play in the opening quarter. But it was his 62-yard TD run in the second
quarter on third-and-15 that started what turned out to be a decisive group
of plays that broke the game open for HCC.
“I sprinted down there and
try to get a block,” said freshman quarterback Angelo Pease, who had a block
downfield to get Clay into the end zone. “I got in the way to slow those
guys down. Clay came from behind me and got into the end zone.”
The other play that turned
the momentum squarely toward HCC came at the end of the first half. With
just 8 seconds remaining in the half. Pease connected with freshman Ray-Ray
Davis on an acrobatic 45-yard touchdown pass that Davis went high to get,
tipped the ball to himself and then corralled the ball as he fell to the
ground for a 35-19 lead at intermission.
“It was a great effort by
Ray-Ray to stay alive and make the catch,” Rhoades said. “Angelo had time to
get it off, so the o-line played a big part of it. We did a good job of
managing the clock and taking a shot at it. The players made plays.”
Pease added: “It really
wasn’t a hail-mary. The play was called “Colorado.” I stepped up in the
pocket and I saw Ray-Ray Davis one-one-one. I tossed the ball up there and
he came down with a spectacular catch.”
Freshman Chris Anderson had
93 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown in his HCC debut. Pease completed 11
of 21 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Davis led Blue Dragon
receivers with five receptions for 68 yards.
After surrendering 19 points
and 211 yards in the first half, defensively the Blue Dragons settled in
over the final two quarters. After allowing 128 yards in the first half, NEO
had 0 yards rushing and gave up one late touchdown in the second half.
“We decided we had to stop
the run,” sophomore defensive back Kendall Davis said. “They ran pretty good
in the first half. We made some adjustments, but we just had to hustle to
get to and surround the ball and shut it down.”
For the game, NEO had 381
total yards with 253 coming through the air. Norsemen quarterback Brandon
Rogers completed 19 of 34 passes for 253 yards with two touchdowns and one
interception.
The first 21minutes of the
game was back-and-forth.
After Clay’s first TD, NEO
answered two series later after an HCC turnover at its own 13. Da’Sor Horton
to tie the game at 7-0 from 1-yard out with 4:58 to play. The Dragons then
took advantage of sophomore Trezz Tillman’s 52-yard kickoff return and
regained the lead with 2:09 remaining in the quarter when sophomore Jacob
Yoder scored his first career touchdown from 1-yard out with 2:09 left in
the quarter for a 14-7 HCC lead.
Josh Morris pulled NEO
within 14-13 on a 7-yard scoring run that capped off a nine-play, 84-yard
drive. The snap on the point-after was bad and Hutch led by one with 13:01
to go in the first half. The teams once again traded touchdowns – Anderson
on a 7-yard run for Hutchinson and a 62-yard TD reception by John Goodlett
by NEO. The Norsemen’s two-point pass failed and Hutch led 21-19 with 6
minutes to play.
Hutch then drove 88 yards in
six players, scoring on Clay’s 62-yard TD run for a 28-19 lead with 3:47 to
play. The Dragons’ defense forced a punt on NEO’s next possession and took
over at their own 14. That set up Davis’ great catch in the end zone with no
time remaining in the half and gave Hutchinson a 35-19 lead.
Freshman tight end Danny
Weigel had his first collegiate touchdown when he caught a 6-yard pass from
Pease for a 42-19 lead. Tillman closed out the HCC scoring with 4:42 to play
in the game on Tillman’s 5-yard run.
The Blue Dragons are off
next week and will play host to Highland in the home opener at 7 p.m. on
Sept. 12 at Gowans Stadium.
GAME NOTES
– HCC won its second-straight season opener after dropping four straight. …
HCC is now 42-34-2 in season openers. … The last HCC running back to go for
200 yards in a game was Jamison Palmer, who had 261 yards in the first round
of the Jayhawk Conference playoffs in 1998. … This was HCC’s first win at
Robertson stadium in seven tries. … Redshirt freshman linebacker Chip Hester
debuted with nine tackles. Sophomore linebacker T.J. Duarte had a
career-high eight tackles. … this was HCC’s first 400-yard rushing game
since Coffeyville last season when the Dragons ran for 422 yards.
GAME SUMMARY
PHOTO
GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Rion Rhoades
On his team’s rushing
performance …
“That’s a credit to our
offensive line. You can’t do that with just great backs. You have to have
really great guys up front. It was a great effort by the offense. Having the
ability to pass helped too.”
On his team’s defensive
performance …
“Probably the thing that was
hardest to accept was that they had some success running early. We can’t
allow teams to be two-dimensional. We have some things to fix and I’m
confident that we have the guys will respond to get those things corrected.”
Sophomore Chris Clay
On opening with a victory
…
“We’ve had good practices.
We’ve been able to run able pass and control the clock. We want to do try
and do that every game.”
On Ray-Ray Davis’ great
catch at the end of the first half …
“That’s was a big play for
us. It turned the game around.”
Sophomore Kendall Davis
On Ray-Ray Davis’ great
catch at the end of the first half …
That was amazing. He just
went up and made a tremendous play. That’s what we are here to do, go out
and make plays. That gave us a lot of momentum. It was a big momentum shift.
On where the defense must
improve …
“Getting our stuff down to
where we come out and have no mental breakdowns. We have to line up and get
our checks down.”
Freshman Angelo Pease
On Ray-Ray Davis’ great
catch at the end of the first half …
“They were expecting to go
into halftime down 28-19. They thought they could go down and score and be
right back into the game. That play took a lot out of them.” |
