HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson High School Salthawks football team got off to a quick start and never looked back, cruising to a 57-14 win over the Salina South Cougars on Homecoming at Gowans Stadium.
Hutchinson (3-2) junior Terrell King got things started, taking the opening kickoff back 86 yards for a touchdown to give the Salthawks a 7-0 lead eight seconds in.
The Salthawks scored quickly throughout the night, needing only one-play scoring drives on three different occasions.
Hutchinson finished the game with 359 yards of total offense, 288 of those on the ground. Senior Zion Burgess led the ground game with 11 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns of 61 yards and seven yards. Four different Salthawks scored rushing touchdowns (Burgess 2, Smith 1, Gaitho-Karanu 1, Hunter 1).
The Salthawks led 14-0 after one quarter, 35-7 at halftime, and 50-7 after three quarters.
Salthawk head coach Mike Vernon was able to use several of his reserves for a majority of the second half.
Sophomore Tayton Tuchardt led the defense with seven tackles and a tackle for loss. Senior Mason Jones finished with six tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks.
The Hutchinson defense limited the Salina South offense to zero yards of offense in the first quarter, while really taking away the Cougars rushing attempts. Salina South finished with 37 carries for 72 yards after running the ball 21 times for negative-5 yards in the first half.
The Salthawks travel to Haysville on Friday to play the Campus Colts. Campus (1-4) fell to Derby, 48-0 on Friday. The Cougars return to Salina District Stadium to host Newton (2-3).
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