DRAGONS, GRIZZLIES TO DUEL IN NJCAA RANKED CONTEST

HutchCC Sports Information

One of the best rivalries in all of junior college football renews itself on Saturday for the 94th time as the No. 9-ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons meet the No. 16 Butler Grizzlies in Gowans Stadium for Homecoming.

Originally scheduled for noon, kickoff is now at 7:30 p.m. because of potential weather issues Saturday afternoon.

The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5). The veteran broadcast team of Rusty Hilst (play-by-play), Rob Dreher (analysis) and Glen Grunwald (sidelines). The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. with Countdown to Kickoff.

The game will also be videostreamed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network (www.bluedragonsports.com).

Winners of five-straight games after last week's 25-13 road victory at Ellsworth, the Blue Dragons return to league play right in the thick of the Jayhawk Conference title chase. Hutch is 0.5 games behind No. 8 Independence in the league standings. With two Jayhawk losses, the Grizzlies are still in the race. Butler still has Hutch and Indy on its schedule.

Last week in slick, muddy conditions, the Blue Dragons ran for 307 yards, getting a season-high 122 yards from sophomore back Otis Williams in Hutch's victory at Ellsworth. The Blue Dragon defense forced a season-high six takeaways.

Butler had to outlast Mother Nature last week in El Dorado before finally rolling past Air Force Prep 54-7 in a non-conference battle. The Grizzlies amassed 305 total yards offensively and limited Prep to 99 total yards.

Saturday's game will feature two of the top three defenses in the Jayhawk Conference this season.

The Blue Dragons lead the league in rushing defense at 82.4 yards per game allowed. The Dragons rank third in points allowed (19.1 ppg), passing yards allowed (172.6 ypg) and total defense (255.0 ypg).

Butler ranks No. 1 in passing defense (109.0 ypg), second in both scoring defense (17.6 ppg) and total defense (228.3 ypg) and third in rush defense (119.3 ypg).

The offenses aren't too bad either. Hutchinson ranked first in scoring offense (39.0 ppg), rushing (215.9 ypg) and total offense (375.6 ypg). Butler is third in scoring offense (29.9 ppg) and total offense (341.0 ypg).

In 2014, the Blue Dragons broke a miserable losing streak of 23 games to Butler in a victory in El Dorado. The Dragons would like to end one more extended losing streak to the Grizzlies on Saturday - 10 straight losses to Butler at Gowans Stadium. The last time Hutchinson defeated Butler on its home field was a 36-18 victory in 1995 in the opening round of what was then called the Jayhawk Conference Playoffs.