By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
HUTCHINSON, Kan.—New Hutchinson Community College football coach Drew Dallas had to wait more than 11,300 hours for his first game as a head coach. So what's an extra hour to Dallas to get his first win?
The No. 1-ranked Blue Dragons had to wait through a one-hour weather delay as halftime was ending, but it was worth the wait as Hutchinson downed Coffeyville 33-10 in the 89th season opener in Hutchinson football history on Friday night at Gowans Stadium.
The Blue Dragons took the opening kickoff 60 yards for the season's first score to grab the lead for good. Alfonso DeLeon booted a 28-yard field goal to end the first half with Hutchinson leading 19-3. After the rain delay, the Dragons marched 64 yards for a touchdown on the first possession of the second half and weren't threatened again.
Dallas became the ninth of 18 Blue Dragon football head coaches to win his Hutchinson debut. The Blue Dragons also extended their program-record winning streak in season openers to 13.
The Blue Dragons spread the wealth around as Hutchinson rolled up 235 rushing yards, out-gaining Coffeyville 411-205.
Redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Ogbonna tallied 215 yards total offense and accounted for two touchdowns. Ogbonna completed 14 of 20 passes for 136 yards with a touchdown and interception. Ogbonna rushed for 79 yards on seven carries.
Tye Edwards ran for a game-high 84 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. Anwar Lewis had five carries for 45 yards. Ronald Hoff had 10 rushes for 44 yards and a score and Corey McKnight had 26 yards on six carries.
Cortez Braham caught four passes for 41 yards. Ivan Thomas had three coaches for 45 yards and a score to lead the Dragon receivers.
Tre Pinkney led Hutchinson defensive with 10 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. Jurriente Davis had nine tackles and Shamari Simmons had eight. Caleb Coleman had the only Blue Dragon takeaway with an interception in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, the Blue Dragons held Coffeyville (0-1, 0-1) to 129 rushing yards and only 76 passing yards. Running back James Meeks led the Red Ravens with 54 rushing yards on eight carries. Receiver Bryce Childress had six receptions for 43 yads.
The Blue Dragons wasted little time to open the scoring with a five-play, 60-yard scoring march to open the season. Ogbonna finished the drive with a 30-yard touchdown run. After DeLeon's extra point, the Dragons led 7-0 with 12:56 to play in the first quarter. Coffeyville then converted three third downs on its opening drive, which stalled out when quarterback Kolbi Langhi was sacked by Pinkney and Davion Westmoreland. Coffeyville scored with a Skyler Seagraves' 29-yard field goal to cut the Dragon lead to 7-3 with 3:35 remaining in the opening quarter.
Two possessions later, the Dragons navigated a short field and drove 36 yards in seven plays. Edwards covered the final 6 yards for his first Hutchinson touchdown. The PAT snap was bobbled and Hutchinson led 13-3 with 11:37 remaining in the second quarter.
The Dragon defense forced a three-and-out. Hutchinson converted that and Lewis runs of 29 and 11 yards into a DeLeon 30-yard field goal with 6:07 to play in the second quarter and a 16-3 lead. The Dragons then survived their first turnover of the season by holding Coffeyville on downs at the Hutchinson 39. Using its two-minute offense, Hutch marched all the way to the Raven 11 and ended the first half with a DeLeon 28-yard field goal to lead Coffeyville 19-3 at halftime
Hutchinson boosted its lead to 26-3 on the first possession of the second half when Ogbonna threw his first career touchdown pass, 35 yards to Thomas with 12:43 to play in the period. Two possessions later, Coffeyville scored on a Star Thomas 20-yard touchdown run to cut the Dragon lead to 16.
The Blue Dragons immediately answered with a 61-yard, 11-play scoring march as Hoff scored from 2-yards out on the final play of the third quarter to give Hutchinson a 33-10 lead.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 53-34-3 in season-opening games and 63-24-2 in home openers. … The Blue Dragons have won five straight and 13 of the last 15 over Coffeyville. … Drew Dallas joins Bill Goldsmith, Steve Logan, Larry Hook, Sam Pittman, Andy Hill, Martin Harrell, Dave Wheeler and Craig Jersild as Blue Dragon head coaches to win in their first game. … The Blue Dragons still trail in the all-time series with Coffeyville 30-55-4.