HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Salthawks and Maize South Mavericks smacked each other in the mouth all night long on Friday night in one of the more exciting and interesting football games that Hutchinson fans have seen in a long time. Hutchinson prevailed over the undefeated and #5 ranked Mavericks in a shoot out at Gowans Stadium 34-33.
The game went back and forth and was tied at halftime 14-14. Senior running back Alec McCuan had a huge night, amassing 292 yards on 33 carries scoring 3 touchdowns. Quarterback Myles Thompson scored 2 TD's including the game winner with 1:48 to go in the game to put Hutchinson up for good 34-33.
The Salthawks scored on their first possession of the game with McCuan going over from 4 yards out at the 8:13 mark of the 1st quarter. Carter Booe was perfect all night on point afters all night long, although the Salthawks elected to go for 2 on the last score and were not successful.
Maize South was next to score after their first possession stalled and had to punt the ball away. On their next possession Senior QB Colin Shields connected with Hunter Niemann on a 25 yard catch and run with 1:10 to go in the 1st quarter. The Salthawks answered back with a 52 yard romp for a score by McCuan with 7:41 to go in the 2nd quarter. Maize South closed out the first have scoring with Niemann scoring from 4 yards out to tie the game at 14 all at halftime.
The Mavericks opened the scoring in the 3rd quarter as Niemann scored his 2nd TD of the game coming at the 6:40 mark but a miscue on the PAT made the score 20-14 Maize South. Hutchinson's Senior QB Myles Thompson regained the lead 21-20 2 minutes later on a 2 yard slash into the endzone for his 1st TD of the night. Maize South finished off their 3rd quarter scoring with Colin Shields connecting with Jake Johnson with 2:02 to go in the quarter to regain the lead 27-21. Johnson had 11 catches for 99 yards and 2 TD's on the night.
The 4th quarter had both teams fans on the edge of their seats as McCuan ripped off a 44 yard run for his 3rd touchdown of the night to put the Salthawks the lead 28-27 on the first play of the quarter to score with 11:53 to go in the game. After that, Maize South drove down the field and scored what was to be their final touchdown of the night as Neimann took a Shields hand off to go 15 yards and score to give the lead back to Maize South 33-28. The Mavericks tried a 2 point conversion but failed. Neiman finished his night with 24 carries and 107 yards plus 2 TD's.
But Hutchinson saved the best for last as McCuan continued to bang away at the Maize South defense. with Myles Thompson scoring his 2nd touchdown of the night with 1:48 to play to give Hutchinson the lead 34-33. Maize South made it exciting with it's final drive reaching the Hutchinson 30 yard line but Shields final 2 passes fell incomplete and just like against Garden City, Hutchinson took over on downs and ran out the clock with 55 seconds to go in the game.
Hutchinson goes to 3-0 and the Mavericks are now 2-1. Hutchinson hosts Newton next Friday for Homecoming at Gowans Stadium.