EVANS RUSHES FOR BOWL RECORD; DRAGONS FINISH 10-WIN SEASON

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Freshman running back Tiyon Evans rushed for a Salt City Bowl record 194 yards and two touchdowns and the Hutchinson Community College football team earned a 10-win season for the first time since 2014 on Saturday.

No. 3-ranked Hutchinson defeated No. 18 Monroe College 45-23 in the 11th annual Salt City Bowl at Gowans Stadium. Hutchinson is now 13-7-2 all-time in bowl games and 8-1 in the Salt City Bowl.

The Blue Dragons clinched the seventh 10-win season in team history on Saturday, closing the 2019 season at 10-2. Monroe finished the year at 8-3.

Evans led a dominant ground game that barreled through the No. 1 rushing defense in the country. The Dragons ran for 368 yards on 45 carries and three touchdowns. Monroe was averaging 30.2 rushing yards allowed. The 368 yards allowed were the most by Monroe this season and only the third time the Mustangs had allowed 100 or more yards in a game.

Named the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player, Evans rushed for a career-high and Salt City Bowl Record 194 yards on 15 carries – averaging 12.9 yards per carry - with touchdowns of 2 and 70 yards. Evans' 70-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter broke the game open, giving Hutchinson a 38-17 lead at that point.

Evans accounted for 279 all-purpose yards, adding 85 kickoff return yards to his performance.

Jonathan White also rushed for 100 yards going for 105 yards on 10 carries and a 28-yard touchdown.

Blue Dragon quarterback Mark Wright threw three touchdown passes, completing 16 of 31 passes for 205 yards. Wright threw touchdown passes of 41 yards to Karin Brown, a Salt City Bowl-record 74-yard reception to Erin Collins and a 12-yard pass to White.

Brown had four catches for 51 yards and Mitchell Tinsley had four catches for 22 yards.

The Blue Dragons rolled up a season-high 593 total yards. The Dragons averaged 7.6 yards per play.

Hutchinson's defense held the nation's No. 1 scoring offense to 23 points and 291 total yards (108 rushing, 183 passing.

Jurriente Davis had a team-high seven tackles. The Dragons had four quarterback sacks, 11 tackles for loss and nine passes broken up.

Monroe quarterback Dominique Shoffner was 12 of 34 passing for 183 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked four times. Shoffner was Monroe's leading rusher with 53 yards on 16 carries. Receiver Lucas Nunez had five receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Monroe linebacker Tim Donnahue was the game's Defensive MVP with 11 total tackles, three passes broken up and a quarterback hurry.

The game started fast with three touchdowns in the first 3 minutes, 45 seconds.

After Evans' 55-yard kickoff return to start the game, the Dragons scored two plays later when Wright and Brown connected for their 41-yard touchdown catch and run with 14:14 to play in the opening quarter. Monroe answered right back with a five-play drive that was capped by Nunez's 57-yard touchdown pass from Shoffner with 11:56 to go.

Forty-one seconds later, Collins caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Wright for a 14-7 Dragon lead with 11:15 to play in the quarter. Monroe added a 27-yard field goal to cut the Hutch lead to 14-10 after one quarter.

Hutch had a 17-point second quarter to lead 31-10 at halftime. Evans scored to complete a season-long 17-play scoring drive that covered 75 yards with a 2-yard plunge with 9:43 to go. Sebastian Garcia added a 30-yard field goal with 6:18 left. Then Wright threw his third touchdown pass of the half, a 12-yard pass to White with 12 seconds remaining in the half.

Monroe took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards in eight plays and scored on Clayton Scott's two-yard run with 13:10 left to cut the Dragon lead to 31-17. After that, the Mustangs had two deep drives into Dragon territory, but came up empty on a missed field goal and being held on downs.

Just 58 seconds into the fourth quarter, Evans broke his 70-yard touchdown run for a 38-17 lead. White added his 28-yard scoring run with 7:41 to play to make it 45-17.

The victory was Hutchinson head coach Rion Rhoades' 99th at Hutchinson.