DRAGONS PUNCH TICKET INTO NJCAA TITLE GAME

Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Saturday, December 3, 2022

For the second time in three seasons, the Hutchinson Community College football team will play for a national championship.

Dylan Kedzior and Malik Benson combined for four touchdowns and the Hutchinson defense slammed the door on Coffeyville over the final three quarters as the No. 1-ranked Blue Dragons scored 38 unanswered points in a 38-7 victory over No. 4 Coffeyville in the NJCAA Playoff National Semifinals on Saturday at Gowns Stadium.

The Blue Dragons (11-0) will now play either No. 2 Northwest Mississippi or No. 3 Iowa Western in the NJCAA National Championship game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. Iowa Western plays at Northwest Mississippi in the other national semifinal at 5 p.m. on Sunday in Senatobia, Mississippi.

Hutchinson extends it second-longest winning streak to 17 consecutive games.

Coffeyville took the opening drive of the game 68-yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead over the Blue Dragons with 9:18 to play in the opening quarter. The Dragons immediately answered with a nine-play, 85-yard scoring march that was capped off by a Kediri 1-yard plunge to tie the game at 7-all with 4:54 to play in the quarter.

The Blue Dragons led 10-7 at halftime and then dominated the second half, outscoring Coffeyville 28-0. The Dragons outgained Coffeyville 250-18.

Kedzior rushed for 156 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns of 2 and 74 yards. Kediri, the 2022 Jayhawk Conference Offensive Player of the Year, became the second-straight Blue Dragon running back to surpass 1,000 yards for a season. Kediri now has 1,056 rushing yards this season.

Benson finished with seven catches for 114 yards, his 10th career game with 100 or more receiving yards in a game. Benson caught touchdowns of 74 and 11 yards. Benson, for the season, now has 51 receptions for 923 yards and 10 touchdowns. Those marks rank 10th, seventh and a tie for sixth, respectively, in Blue Dragon single-season history.

The Blue Dragon defense gave up 75 yards in the opening quarter and limited the Red Ravens to 35 total yards and four first downs over the final three quarters. Coffeyville had season lows of 35 rushing yards and 77 passing yards.

Blue Dragon head coach Drew Dallas tied David Wheeler for fifth place on the Blue Dragon coaching list with 28 wins. Dallas is now 28-2 on the Blue Dragon sideline.

Blue Dragon freshman kicker Cole Seagraves tied a Blue Dragon single-season record with his 14th field goal of the season, matching the 2012 mark of Michael Mesh. Seagraves kicked a 39-yard field goal with 1:59 to play in the second quarter that gave the Dragons a 10-7 lead.

The Blue Dragons rolled up 460 total yards (289 rushing, 171 passing) and had no turnovers on Saturday. The Dragons had 12 turnovers in the last two games against the Red Ravens.

Blue Dragon quarterback Dylan Liable completed 14 of 24 passes for 171 yards with two touchdowns.

Defensively, Dasheen Jackson and Jamari Morris had five tackles each. Morris added a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception.

Leading 10-7 at halftime, the Blue Dragon struck quickly when Benson caught a short pass from Liable and sprinted 63 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Dragons a 17-7 lead with 10:09 to play in the third quarter.

After Morris' interception early in the fourth quarter gave Hutchinson the ball at its own 14, two plays later, Kediri burst through the Raven defense for a 74-yard touchdown run and a 24-7 lead with 14:15 to play in the fourth quarter.

Benson made it 31-7 with an 11-yard touchdown strike from Liable with 5:52 to play. Back-up quarterback Collin Shields closed the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds remaining in the game.

GAME NOTES – Making their 25th NJCAA postseason appearance, the Blue Dragons are now 16-7-2 with five-straight postseason wins. … The Dragons are now 32-56-4 all-time vs. Coffeyville. … Liable upped his career passing yards total to 5,810 yards and his career touchdown passes record to 65. … Benson extended his career receiving yards streak to 2,153 yards.