INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (BlueDragonSports.com) – The top-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team earned its sixth-straight victory to start the season in convincing fashion, defeating the Independence Pirates 48-7 on Saturday at Shulties Stadium.
The Blue Dragons jumped out to a 17-point lead and scored 24 unanswered points in the second half on the way to a 48-7 KJCCC victory over the Pirates.
Hutchinson is now 6-0 overall, starting a season with six-straight wins for the ninth time in program history. The Dragons are 2-0 in conference play heading into next week’s nationally ranked road matchup at No. 14 Coffeyville.
The Blue Dragons extended their KJCCC win streak to 20 games and their road winning streak to 16-straight games.
The Dragon defense turned in another impressive overall performance, just missing a third-straight shutout. The Pirates scored with 1:23 to play in the second quarter, ending a run of 158 minutes, 53 seconds without Blue Dragon opponents scoring a point.
Hutchinson held the Pirates to 181 total yards, including a minus-20 rushing yards. The Blue Dragon defense had seven quarterback sacks for the third-straight game and forced two takeaways.
Marshon Oxley and Jeffrey Manns had 2 and 1.5 quarterbacks sacks, respectively. Damarcus Johnson and Duke Clayton Jr. each had a fumble recovery.
Blue Dragon return specialist Kordell Gouldsby played a huge role, accounting for 231 all-purpose yards, which is the seventh most all-purpose yards in Blue Dragon single-game history. Gouldsby had eight punt returns for 148 yards, including a 50-yard return for a touchdown in the third quarter. Gouldsby also had 83 yards on two Independence kickoffs.
Offensively, the Blue Dragons rang up 28 first downs and 426 total yards. The Dragons rushed for287 yards and passed for 139 yards.
Sophomore Waymond Jordan Jr. had his fourth 100-yard rushing game with 101 yards on 16 carries and rushing touchdowns of 2 and 29 yards. Christian Johnson and Julius Bolden also has rushing touchdowns.
Quarterback Samari Collier completed 13 of 23 passes for 104 yards with a touchdown. Collier rushed for 69 yards on 11 carries. Johnson was 4 of 6 passing for 35 yards and he rushed for 35 yards.
Tre Brown had five catches for 39 yards. Ja’Cory Thomas had 39 yards with three receptions.
After a three-and-out on their first series, the Blue Dragons scored on their second possession of the game when Jordan’s 2-yard touchdown run capped a three-play, 30-yard scoring drive that was set up by Johnson’s fumble recovery. The Dragons led 7-0 with 11:27 left in the opening quarter.
Hutchinson was unsuccessful on its next three possessions, but took a 10-0 lead on Blaise Hoover‘s 33-yard field goal with 10:08 left in the second quarter.
The Dragons got another takeaway two plays after the kickoff when Clayton recovered an Independence fumble at the Dragon 33. Hutchinson needed five plays to cover the 67 yards, getting a 29-yard Jordan touchdown run for a 17-0 lead with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter.
Independence got on the board with 1:23 remaining in the second quarter when Nathan Owens caught a 79-yard touchdown pass from Isaiah Nathaniel to cut the Dragon lead to 17-7. Set up by a Gouldsby 58-yard kickoff return, the Dragons answered when Brown caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Collier to up Hutchinson’s lead to 24-7 at halftime.
The Dragons scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. Bolden’s 3-yard touchdown run completed a six-play, 33-yard scoring drive for a 31-7 lead. Gouldsby then broke loose for his 50-yard touchdown punt return for a 38-7 lead with 4:58 left in the period.
Johnson added a 3-yard scoring run with 12:56 left in the fourth quarter and Nestus Burger kicked a 23-yard field goal with 5:46 left to close out the scoring.
GAME NOTES – Of its 20-game KJCCC win straight, 16 of those wins have been in conference-designated games. … The Dragons are now 60-24-5 all-time against Independence. … The Dragons have outscored Independence 185-15 in their current four-game win streak over Indy. … Gouldsby’s punt return is the first punt return for touchdown by the Blue Dragons since Tre Richardson last season against Coffeyville. … That punt return marks a streak of three-straight seasons the Dragons have returned a punt for a touchdown. … The Dragons have 21 sacks in their last three games. … The Dragons have posted two-straight games allowing negative rushing yardage and it’s two-straight games against Independence to hold the Pirates to negative rushing yardage. … The Blue Dragons started six offensive possessions start in Pirate territory.
