DRAGONS OPEN AT NO. 1 IN NJCAA FOOTBALL RANKING
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College football team starts the 2025 season where it ended 2024 – at No. 1.
The defending Division I National Champion Blue Dragons were picked No. 1 in the 2025 NJCAA Preseason Rankings released on Monday. The Dragons received all 12 first-place votes.
This is the seventh-straight season that the Blue Dragons are ranked in the Top 5 of the preseason rankings.
This is the third time in program history to start a season ranked No. 1.
Hutchinson went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the 2020-21 season that was pushed back to the spring of 2021 because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Dragons were picked No. 1 in the 2021 preseason rankings and finished No. 3.
Last season, the Blue Dragons started the season at No. 3 and went 11-1 to claim the program's second national championship in the last five seasons. Hutchinson defeated Georgia Military 63-21 on the road in the national semifinals and then rallied to defeat Iowa Western 28-23 in the championship game in Canyon, Texas.
Starting his sixth season, Hutchinson head coach Drew Dallas has nine total starters (5 offense, 4 defense) and 26 total players (12 offense, 14 defense) returning from last year's championship team.
Over his first five seasons, Dallas is 49-5.
The Blue Dragons open the 2025 season on the road in Roswell, New Mexico, against New Mexico Military on September 6. Hutchinson's home opener will be a rematch of the 2024 national championship game as No. 2 Iowa Western comes to Gowans Stadium for a noon kickoff.
The 2025 schedules promises to be another challenging one for the Blue Dragons.
In addition to No. 2 Iowa Western, the Blue Dragons will also play No. 7 Garden City (Nov. 22 at Gowans Stadium), No. 13 Butler (Nov. 1 at El Dorado), No. 15 Iowa Central (Sept. 20 at Fort Dodge, Iowa) and teams receiving votes in Coffeyville (October 25 at Gowans Stadium) and Dodge City (Oct. 11 at Dodge City).
The Blue Dragons are also the preseason pick to win the KJCCC Championship. Hutchinson bids for its fourth-straight regular-season league championship and it's sixth-straight KJCCC crown (regular-season titles in 2020/21, 2022, 2023 and 2024) and a KJCCC Playoff Championship in 2021.
The preseason Top 5 has Hutchinson, Iowa Western, Northwest Mississippi, Navarro and Georgia Military.
2025 NJCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Hutchinson (12) 150
2. Iowa Western 140
3. Northwest Mississippi 122
4. Navarro 117
5. Georgia Military 106
6. Snow College 105
7. Garden City 87
8. Copiah-Lincoln 68
9. Tyler 64
10. Mississippi Gulf Coast 47
11. Kilgore 46
12. Lackawanna 41
13. Butler 30
14. Trinity Valley 26
15. Iowa Central 23
Others receiving votes: Coffeyville, East Mississippi, East Central, Dodge City, Holmes, Cisco, Itawamba