HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Salthawk football team took a shot in the mouth early in the game Friday night by showed character and poise to rally back with two touchdowns in the 3rd quarter to defeat Goddard-Eisenhower 27-20 in the season opener for both teams for 2022.
Goddard-Eisenhower got things going quickly with a 91 yard strike from Tyner Horn to Carter Pabst on the first play of the game to jump on top of Hutch 7-0 early.
Hutch responded with a 1 yard plunge by Nick Lang to tie things up at 7-7 moments later. Then Eisenhower took a two touchdown lead 20-7 on two more Carter Pabst catches to lead 20-7 in the 2nd quarter.
The Salthawks drove the ball right down the field but fell short after Daniel Hernandez caught the ball but was downed on the one foot line as time ran out in the first half with Goddard-Eisenhower leading 20-14.
Hernandez made up for not getting into the end zone quickly in the 3rd quarter as he returned the 2nd half kick-off 72 yards to tie things up at 20-20 with 11:46 remaining in the third. Runyon's point after game Hutch the lead 21-20 just 1 play deep into the third quarter.
On the next Eisenhower possession, Mason Jones intercepted a Horn pass to set Hutchinson up the the Eisenhower 11 yard line. Nick Lang then scored his 2nd touchdown of the night with another 1 yard QB sneak to put the Salthawks on top 27-20. The snap was bobbled on the point after, but Hutch still had a 7 point lead.
In the final seconds of the ball game, Eisenhower was on the drive, but Jax Heneha picked off the 2nd Horn interception at the 50 yard line and returned it deep into Goddard-Eisenhower territory. A Hutch block in the back on the return place the ball at the Eisenhower 35 and Hutchinson got a big catch on 3rd down by Noah Khokhar to allow the Salthawks to take a knee and run out the clock for the win.
Hutchinson (1-0) travels to Newton next Friday, while the Tigers host Salina South at home in Goddard.