MAIZE, Kan. - The Hutch High Salthawks closed out their regular season on the road at Maize South and came away with a huge win over the Mavericks 42-20 on Friday night.
Levi Kepler put up his best individual numbers of the season throwing for one touchdown and running for another while going 2 for 5 passing for 75 yards and earning 48 yards on the ground.
Kade Smith three of the six Salthawk touchdowns including the nail in the coffin run on 2nd and 24 from the Hutchinson 46 yard line. Smith basically said "enough of this" and romped 54 yards up the sidelines with 2:13 remaining in the contest.
Hutchinson jumped out early taking advantage of a Maverick muffed punt on the Hutchinson 46 yard line.
The Salhawks put together an 11 play, 54 yard drive that took up 5 minutes and 35 seconds. Smith finished it off with a 2 yard run to put Hutch up 7-0 after the Taysen Runyon PAT with 4:48 to go in the 1st quarter.
Kepler found Taishaun Williams from 39 yards out with 2:46 to go in the first plus another Runyon PAT to extend the lead to 14-0 after 1 quarter of play.
Maize South got on the board with a 3 yard Christian McDonald run in the second quarter to pull within 8 after the PAT kick was not any good.
The Salthawks answered back with a Kepler to Williams pass to the Maize South 2 yard line that set up a 2 yard TD run by Terrell King with 5:33 to go in quarter two. Hutch 21, Maize South 6.
Kepler then ran a perfectly executed left side option read and ran untouched for 38 yards to score with 1:51 prior to halftime. Hutch 28, Maize South 6.
But Maize South marched right down the field to set up a 3 yard TD pass to Landen Gatto with 7 seconds remaining in the quarter. Gatto had a huge night with 13 catches for 183 yards and 1 touchdown on the night. That score made the halftime score Hutch 28, Maize South 13.
Hutchinson scored first in the second half with a Smith touchdown run from 5 yards out with 8:57 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Tate McNew got Maize South on the scoreboard with a 7 yard pass to Stratton Ebers in the right corner of the Salthawk end zone to close the gap to 35-20 going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was back and forth with each team exchanging possessions until Hutch took advantage of Maize South catch and fumble near mid field that set up the final run by Smith for 54 yards for the final Salthawk touchdown with 2:13 to go.
Smith finished the night with 24 carries for 181 yards. Smith closes out the regular season with 1,374 yard for his senior season.
Hutchinson (6-2) will now host Salina South (1-7) next Friday, November 1st for the start of the playoffs. The Salthawks finished tied for the 5A West 3rd spot but were granted the 4th seed after a coin flip. The full 5A bracket can be found on the KSHSAA site.