DRAGONS RUSH FOR 441 YARDS IN HOME-OPENING VICTORY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The 900th all-time game in Hutchinson Community College football history produced a big-time rushing attack for the No. 1 Blue Dragons on Saturday.

Tyrell Reed Jr and Amaris Shaw both rushed for more than 100 yards and the Blue Dragons posted the fifth-best single-game rushing performance in team history in a 72-7 home-opening victory over the Ellsworth Panthers at Gowans Stadium.

The Blue Dragons improve to 2-0, while Ellsworth fell to 0-2. Hutchinson travels No. 9 Iowa Central next Saturday in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Hutchinson rushed for 441 total yards and eight rushing touchdowns as the Blue Dragons scored the most points (72) and had the largest margin of victory (65) in series history with the Panthers.

The 441 yards rushing were the fifth most in single-game Blue Dragon history and the eight rushing touchdowns tied for second, matching the eight rushing TDs against Highland in 2009. The Blue Dragons had 15 rushing attempts that resulted in gains of 10 or more yards.

Reed rushed for 171 yards on just nine carries with three touchdowns from distances of 26, 69 and 20 yards. Shaw had 16 carries for 139 yards and touchdowns of 15 and 53 yards. Reed and Shaw are the first Blue Dragon tandem to both rush for 100 yards in a game since Tiyon Evans (194) and Jonathan White (103) against Monroe in the 2019 Salt City Bowl.

Brandon Epton rushed for 50 yards on seven carries with a 5-yard touchdown run. Ed Williams III had 48 yards on nine carries an a 7-yard TD run. Quarterback Jake Parker rushed for 33 yards on five carries and a 23-yard touchdown run.

The Blue Dragons amassed 525 total yards against Ellsworth, the first time to break 500 yards since racking up 599 last season against Dodge City,

Parker, making his first career start at quarterback, completed 11 of 18 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Oran Singleton caught a team-high four passes for 13 yards. Zeriah Beason had three catches for 32 yards and a 27-yard touchdown reception in Hutchinson's 24-point second quarter.

Defensively, the Blue Dragons had a tremendous performance, holding Ellsworth to just 52 total yards, including a minus-53 rushing yards. Ellsworth had negative total yards through three quarters. A 68-yard catch and run by Alex Clue to start the fourth quarter got Ellsworth back into positive yards for the game.

The Blue Dragon defense contributed a touchdown and safety in the second quarter. Quentin Williams scooped up an Ellsworth fumble for a 15-yard touchdown return to give the Dragons a 26-0 lead with 13:14 to play in the period. Daniel Brown tackled Ellsworth quarterback Steven Werking, who had to chase down an arrent center snap, in the end zone for a safety with 7:26 to play in the second quarter for a 34-0 lead.

Hutchinson's defense forced three Ellsworth turnovers. The Dragons had seven quarterback sacks and 15 tackles for loss.

Ian Matthews had a team-high eight tackles, including two tackles for loss. K'Von Sherman had seven tackles with a sack. Daniel Brown finished with five tackles and two sacks.

The Blue Dragons led 13-0 after one quarter. Williams rushed for a 7-yard touchdown with 7:37 to play in the period. That drive covered 94 yards in six plays. Epton's 5-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds left in the period upped the lead to 13-0.

Hutchinson exploded for 24 points in the second quarter. Reed started the quarter off with his 26-yard touchdown run. Williams' fumble recovery made it 26-0. Beason's 27-yard touchdown pass from Parker upped the lead to 32-0 with 7:33 to go. Brown's safety and Cole Segraves' 39-yard field goal rounded out the period with Hutchinson leading 37-0 at halftime.

The Dragons outgained Ellsworth 249 to a minus-25 yards in the opening half.

Shaw and Reed had touchdown runs of 15 and 69 yards, respectively in the third quarter for a 51-0 lead.

After Ellsworth scored early in the fourth quarter, the Blue Dragons answered with a Shaw 53-yard touchdown run with 13:29 to go, a Reed 20-yard scoring jaunt with 12:44 to play and Parker's 23-yard touchdown run with 4:59 remaining.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons won their 10th-striaght home opener and are now 56-24-2 in home openers. … Head coach Drew Dallas reached the 30-win plateau in his 33rd game as head coach. … The Blue Dragons have won five-straight games vs. Ellsworth and now lead the series 8-4. … Hutchinson has outscored Ellsworth 142-14 in the last two seasons. … The 12 total touchdowns by the Blue Dragons tie for the fourth-most in single-game history. … The Dragons amassed 698 all-purpose yards … The Blue Dragons were 5 of 5 in trips to the red zone. … The Blue Dragons were 7 of 14 on third-down conversions to Ellsworth's 0 of 11.