NO. 9 BLUE DRAGONS FALL TO NO. 16 BUTLER

HutchCC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College Football Team suffered through one of 'those nights' on Saturday at Gowans Stadium.

The Blue Dragons fumbled on their opening series in which the Butler Grizzlies returned for a touchdown. Then the Grizzlies scored on their first offensive play of the night and the Blue Dragons found themselves in a hole they simply weren't able to climb out of.

Limited to 171 yards total offense, the No. 9 Blue Dragons dropped a 38-10 decision to the No. 16 Grizzlies in a huge Jayhawk Conference battle. The Blue Dragons had their five-game winning streak snapped and fall to 6-2 overall. This was their first Jayhawk Conference loss and are now 3-1. Butler improves to 6-2 and 4-2 in the league.

Butler outgained the Blue Dragons 307-171 and had 23 first downs to Hutch's eight. The Grizzlies converted on 6 of 15 third-down tries, the Dragons were 0 for 12. The Blue Dragons killed themselves with penalties committing 18 for 178 yards.

B.J. Emmons was Hutchinson's leading rusher with 52 yards on 10 carries. Dezmon Jackson had 7 carries for 41 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown.

Quarterback Cam Jones was 7 of 20 for 92 yards and was sacked five times. Jaylen Erwin had three receptions for 48 yards.

After falling behind 14-0 just 4 minutes, 4 seconds into the game, the Blue Dragons caught a break when Adrien Cross recovered a Grizzly fumble at the Butler 25. The drive stalled at the Grizzly 13 and Luke Niemeyer kicked a 22-yard field goal to cut the Dragon deficit to 14-3 with 35 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

Butler immediately answered with a 13-play, 89-yard scoring march that was capped by a Chris Helbig 1-yard quarterback sneak for a 21-3 lead Butler lead with 10:35 to play in the half.

The Blue Dragons took the second-half kickoff and marked 65-yards in three plays for a touchdown. After Emmons' 35-yard run, Jackson broke outside for a 30-yard touchdown down the left sideline. The Dragons cut the Butler lead to 21-10 with 14:08 to play in the third quarter.

Again Butler answered on its next drive when back-up quarterback Steven Frank threw a 16-yard touchdown pass tom Gerritt Prince, his second touchdown reception of the game, and Butler once again had control of the game at 28-10 with 12:40 to play in the third quarter.

The Grizzlies tacked on 10 more points in the third quarter to take a 38-10 lead.

Hutchinson was able to muster only 68 total yards and three first downs in the second half.

The Blue Dragons will travel to play at No. 6 Independence next Saturday at 9 p.m. in Riverside Park/Emmot Field.