DRAGONS ADVANCE WITH SEMIFINAL ROUT OF INDEPENDENCE

Dasheen Jackson (31) forces an Independence fumble - one of four Blue Dragon takeaways in a second-straight playoff shutout. The Dragon defense helped No. 12 Hutchinson defeat No. 5 Independence 42-0 on Sunday in Independence. (A.J. Gooch/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

November 14, 2021

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

INDEPENDENCE – For the third-straight game, the Hutchinson Community College football team struck early, quickly and often and are now in the Jayhawk Conference/Region VI playoff championship game.

The No. 12-ranked Blue Dragons scored touchdowns on their first two offensive plays of the game and the defense came up with four takeaways and posted a second-straight shutout in a 42-0 semifinal victory over No. 5 Independence on Sunday at Shulties Stadium.

The third-seeded Blue Dragons (7-2) will meet fourth-seed and 14th-ranked Garden City (6-3) in the KJCCC Playoff championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 21 at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita. The Blue Dragons will play in the playoff final for the first time since 2013.

The Blue Dragons stung the Pirates early and built a 14-0 lead just 2 minutes, 33 seconds into the game.

Freshman receiver Malik Benson took a bubble screen pass from Dylan Laible on the game's first play from the Dragon 13-yard line. He slipped one tackle and bounced off another and traveled 87 yards for a touchdown. After Indy missed a 46-yard field goal, Laible hit Benson with a 76-yard bomb to give the Dragons a 14-0 lead with 12:27 to go in the opening quarter.

The Blue Dragons made it 21-0 when Demaiyon Houston took a short pass and worked his way down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown from Laible with 3:51 to play in the opening quarter.

Over Hutchinson's last three first quarters, the Blue Dragons have racked up 77 points and 674 yards of total offense, 610 passing yards.

Laible passed for better than 360 yards for a third-consecutive game, tying a career high with 365 yards on 16 of 24 passing and five touchdown passes to lead a 406-yard offensive output. Over his last three games, Laible had thrown for 1,093 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Benson caught five passes for career highs 197 yards and three touchdowns. Benson had touchdowns of 87, 76 and 12 yards.

Led by R.J. Evans, the Blue Dragons had season highs of three interceptions and four total takeaways while posting back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2016 (Iowa Central and the Kansas Wesleyan JV). The Dragons held Independence to 23 total rushing yards and 266 total yards. The Pirates were 2 of 14 on third down, 0 of 3 on fourth down and were 0 of 3 in red zone opportunities.

Evans had six total tackles with an interception and fumble recovery for Hutchinson. Ja'mez Drummer had seven total tackles. Jordan Huff and Daquan Wilson also had interceptions.

The Blue Dragons totaled six quarterback sacks. Nadame Tucker had 2.5 sacks and Martavius French had 2.0 quarterback sacks. Ticker also had three quarterback hurries.

Hutchinson limited Independence to 23 rushing yards and 266 total yards. The Pirates entered the game averaging 42.7 points, 148.9 rushing yards and 384.0 total yards per game.

The Blue Dragons were held to a season-low 41 rushing yards but had 365 passing yards for a third-straight game of 400 or more total yards at 406.

Running back Anwar Lewis had a game-high 53 yards on 16 carries. In addition to the receiving performance of Benson, Cortez Braham had five receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown. Houston had two catches for 56 yards.

The Blue Dragons took a 28-0 lead into halftime when Laible threw his fourth touchdown pass of the first half with 45 seconds left in the second quarter. Braham's back-shoulder 14-yard touchdown reception capped a seven-play, 59 yard scoring drive.

The Blue Dragons added two more third-quarter touchdowns – a Tye Edwards 1-yard run that finished off an 11-play, 71-yard scoring march – and a 12-yard Benson touchdown reception – Benson's career single-game high third touchdown reception and Laible's fifth touchdown pass of the game.

Laible surpassed the 3,000-yard career passing mark in the game. Now with 3,018 yards, Laible moved up six spots from 10th to fifth on the career pass yards' list. Laible also moved into fifth on the Dragon single-season passing yards' list with 2,236 yards. His 26 touchdown passes for the season ties PJ Peters for third on that single-season list. Laible is alone in third on the career touchdown list with 37.

Benson's 197 receiving yards was the third most in Blue Dragon single-game history. His 837 receiving yards for the season is now No. 8 on the single-season list.

Lewis moved past Leonard Brice on the Blue Dragon career rushing list with 1,531 yards. For the season, Lewis is six yards' shy of 1,000 yards at 994 rushing yards for the season.

GAME NOTES – Hutchinson head coach Drew Dallas moved into No. 8 on the Blue Dragon coaching wins' list with his 15th victory on the Hutchinson sideline. Dallas is now 5-1 against NJCAA Top 10 opponents. … This was the 13th all-time shutout by the Blue Dragons over Independence. … The Blue Dragons are now 57-24-5 all-time against Independence, 24-14-3 in games at Independence and are 4-0 against the Pirates in league/regional playoffs. … The Blue Dragons are now 22-22 in league/regional playoffs and are 9-12 in semifinal contests. … Dylan Laible is the first Blue Dragon quarterback with three-straight 300-yard passing games since Luke Barnes in 2012.