DRAGONS TAKE TOP 10 BATTLE WITH TRITONS IN OT

Blue Dragon teammates carry kicker Cole Segraves on their shoulders after he kicked a game-winning 39-yard overtime field goal as No. 2 Hutchinson defeated No. 7 Iowa Central 31-28 on Saturday at Gowans Stadium. (Andrew Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

September 10, 2022

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The No. 2-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team withstood four near-disastrous turnovers and walked off with an overtime victory in Saturday's NJCAA Top-10 clash at Gowans Stadium.

Cole Segraves kicked a game-winning 39-yard field goal into a feisty north wind to close out a 31-28 come-from-behind victory over No. 7 Iowa Central.

The Blue Dragons improve to 3-0 heading into the first of two bye weeks before traveling to Coffeyville on September 24. Iowa Central, playing its third-straight nationally ranked opponent, slipped to 2-1.

Segraves became the first Blue Dragon place kicker to boot a walkoff field goal since Luke Niemeyer kicked a 37-yard double-overtime game winner through the same north goal post at Gowans Stadium that Segraves kicked into on September 23, 2017 against Highland.

Getting to that point on Saturday was tenuous for the Blue Dragons.

After scoring the game's first points just 2 minutes, 3 seconds into the contest, Iowa Central scored the next 21 points unanswered and led 21-7 with 10:30 to play in the second quarter.

Hutchinson battled back to take a 28-21 when Jaheim Simmons scored on a 5-rush run with 6:27 to play in the third quarter. The Dragons then had to endure three fourth-quarter turnovers just to get to overtime.

The second Dragon turnover of the quarter led to the Tritons marching 67 yards in nine plays and tie the game at 28 on Keon'tay Fowler's 7-yard touchdown reception with 3:57 left in regulation.

Hutchinson was on the march for a potential game-winning score in regulation time. The Blue Dragons drove from their own 21 to the Triton 10 before losing a fumble with 12 seconds remaining.

Iowa Central had the first possession of overtime. Triton quarterback Omarion Bartlett was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Dragon 16 by Terry Kirksey and Jerrell Boykins to keep ICCC off the board.

Facing third-and-7 from the Triton 24 on their first overtime possession, Blue Dragon running back Tre Bess, who was Hutchinson's leading rusher with 89 yards on 18 carries, got a key 2-yard rush to the 22. That set up Segraves' game-winner from 39 yards out that, thanks to a 15 mph north wind blowing in his face, barely cleared the cross bar for the game-winner.

Lost in the smoke of Hutchinson's overtime victory was the fact that Blue Dragon sophomore quarterback Dylan Laible became the program's career leader in touchdown passes. Laible threw career touchdown passes 50 and 51 on Saturday to surpass Luke Barnes as Hutchinson's career leader. Receiver Micah Woods caught both the tying and record-breaking touchdowns. The record-tying TD was from 15 yards out with 11:58 to play in the first quarter. Laible then moved past Barnes when his 36-yard strike to Woods tied the game at 21-21 with 10:17 to play in the third quarter.

The Blue Dragons out-gained Iowa Central 394-372 to extend their winning streak to nine games dating back to last season. The Dragons rushed for 161 yards and passed for 191. Iowa Central rushed for 169 yards and passes for 203 yards.

Laible completed 20 of 36 for 233 yards with two touchdowns and his first interception of the season. He was sacked three times.

In addition to Bess, Rontavious Richmond had 66 yards on 17 carries. Simmons scored two rushing touchdowns of 1 and 5 yards and finished with 20 rushing yards on seven carries.

Marcello Bussey caught a game-high six passes for 33 yards. Malik Benson had five receptions for 66 yards. Woods had four catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

Kirksey led the Blue Dragons defensively with eight total tackles. Boykins and Javar Strong had seven tackles each.

The Blue Dragons had five quarterback sacks, but for the first time in three games this season, did not get a takeaway.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 4-4 all-time in overtime games. … The last overtime win was Sept. 23, 2017, a double-overtime 13-10 win over Highland. … Blue Dragon head coach Drew Dallas won his 20th game with the Blue Dragons. … The Blue Dragons are now 9-1 in nationally ranked games and 7-1 against NJCAA Top 10 teams under Dallas. … Malik Benson became the fifth Blue Dragon receiver in history to surpass the career 1,400-yard mark with 1,459 yards. … The Blue Dragons are now 7-1 all-time against Iowa Central, 4-1 at Gowans Stadium.