Hutchinson CC Sports Information
For the third time in as many seasons, the Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons and Iowa Western Reivers meet as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the NJCAA Division I national football rankings.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Dragons (1-0) renew their rivalry against the No. 2-ranked Reivers (1-0) at 12:03 p.m. on Saturday in Hutchinson's 2025 home opener at Gowans Stadium.
The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and on sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) beginning at 11:30 a.m. with Sean Boston (PBP) and Rob Dreher (color) calling the action.
The game will also be nationally televised on ESPN+ with Pat Strathman (PBP) and Gary Thomas (color) on the call at Noon.
This is a rematch of the 2024 NJCAA Football Championship game where the No. 3-ranked Blue Dragons rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the top-ranked Reivers 28-23 on December 18, 2024 in Canyon, Texas, halting Iowa Western's bid at a championship repeat.
Hutchinson plays in a No. 1-vs.-No. 2 match-up for the fifth time in program history. The Blue Dragons are 3-1 in such games with two of the previous four matchups against Iowa Western.
The Blue Dragons opened the 2025 season with an impressive 76-8 road win last Saturday at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico.
Quarterback Christian Johnson threw for career highs of 237 yards and five touchdowns. Derrick Salley Jr. caught three touchdown passes and Eddie McLaughlin caught two touchdown passes. Defensively, the Blue Dragons broke a season-game record with eight total takeaways, including a record five fumble recoveries.
With the victory, Blue Dragon head coach Drew Dallas became the fourth Hutchinson head coach to reach 50 career wins. Dallas did so the fastest, reaching that mark in only 55 games.
Iowa Western had last week off, but rolled to a 39-20 season-opening win over No. 6 Georgia Military, defeating the Bulldogs 39-20 on August 30 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Running back Daniel Swinney rushed for 202 yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Malachi Marshall was 13 of 15 passing for 238 yards and a touchdown. The Reivers racked up 510 total yards and held Georgia Military to 356 yards with six quarterback sacks and two takeaways.
Hutchinson bids for its 12th home-opening victory on Saturday. Since 2000, the Blue Dragons are 22-3 in home openers and overall they are 67-24-2 in home openers.