By John Mesh
The Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragon football team held its annual intrasquad scrimmage Sunday morning at Gowans Stadium.
HutchCC football coach Drew Dallas said he and his staff were pleased with the scrimmage.
“I was pleased with the number of reps were able to get this morning (Sunday morning),” Dallas said. “It is essential for our development to get this scrimmage looks to best get a feel for where we are at as a team and what we need to improve on.
“I believe we have made a lot of progress as a team since Practice 1, but we still have a long way to go to be game-ready for our first opponent.”
The HutchCC football team opens the season at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, against New Mexico Military Institute. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
“We will play host to a traditionally very good, talented and disciplined football team from New Mexico Military Institute,” Dallas said. “They are always well coached and physical on both offense and defense. Although they have a new head coach, I don’t expect that to change and know they will be well-prepared and ready to come compete.
“For us, it is essential that we play clean, limit mistakes, and take advantage of what we can. There is always new and some unknowns when facing a new coaching staff so we will need to be able to make adjustments on the fly and compete with great energy for the opening kickoff.”
The Blue Dragons come off a KJCCC championship season in 2023, posting a 10-1 overall record. HutchCC lost to East Mississippi 27-23 in the NJCAA semifinals.
NMMI went 6-6 last season, losing to five ranked opponents. The Broncos have a new head this season in Oliver Soukup.
The Blue Dragons were picked to win the KJCCC in 2024 in the league’s annual media day which was released in July.
HutchCC is the No. 3 team in the 2024 NJCAA Division I preseason poll released on Monday. The Blue Dragons received 131 points.
Other ranked Kansas teams from Region VI and the KJCCC are Garden City, ninth; and Butler Community College, 15th.
Iowa Western is the preseason No. 1, receiving all 12 first-place votes and 150 points. East Mississippi is second with 139 points.
Kilgore College and Snow College are fourth and fifth. Placing 6-8 are Trinity Valley, Northwest Mississippi and Iowa Central. Placing 10-14 are Copiah-Lincoln, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Georgia Military and Jones College.
Dodge City, Highland, Lackawanna, NMMI and Tyler (Texas) also received votes.
HutchCC women’s soccer completes preseason
The HutchCC Blue Dragon women’s soccer team completed its preseason schedule with a matchup against Southwestern College Sunday night at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
No score was available from the scrimmage.
HutchCC opens the 2024 regular season at 6 p.m. Thursday against NOC-Enid at the Salthawk Sports Complex.
The Blue Dragons, coached by Sammy Lane in his 20th season, defeated Allen Community College 4-1 in a weather-shortened preseason match last Wednesday at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
Lane’s assistants are Dave Thomas, also in his 20th season, and Nick Smith, in his third season.
The Blue Dragon women’s soccer team is ranked third in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference preseason poll and 20th in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll.
The Blue Dragons posted a 12-5-3 season in 2023 that included a third-place conference finish. The Blue Dragons lost in the opening round of the Region 6 Tournament.
Returning from last season are 11 players, including all-conference players midfielder Kaitlyn Edwards (1st team), forward Katharina Marx (2nd team) and goalkeeper Karsyn Slothower (2nd team).
This is the 20th season of Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer.
HutchCC volleyball team plays final scrimmage
The Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragon volleyball team played its final preseason scrimmage Monday afternoon against Sterling College at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Now in her fifth season, head coach Delice Downing returns one starter and four overall players from last year’s 24-15 team that placed fourth in the KJCCC last season.
The one returning starter is middle blocker McKenzie Murphy, a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Fort Scott. She is a returning all-conference performer who hit .293 on 1.26 kills per set. She also averaged 1.07 blocks per set.
The Blue Dragons open the 2024 season at the Iowa Western Tournament on Aug. 24-25 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. HutchCC will play Jefferson College, Iowa Western, Northeastern Junior College and Western Nebraska.
The Blue Dragons will play 15 matches before their 2024 regular-season home opener on Sept. 18 against Cloud County.
The HutchCC volleyball team was picked to finish fifth in the 2024 KJCCC Division I Preseason coaches’ poll.
Barton, picked to win the KJCCC, is ranked 17th in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll. Colby is ranked 18th.
Former Blue Dragon All-American Malik Benson to start for Seminoles
Malik Benson, a former NJCAA All-American from Hutchinson Community College and Lansing High School, was named a starter at wide receiver for No. 10 Florida State’s season opener Saturday against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
Benson, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior, attended HutchCC for two years.
As a freshman at HutchCC, Benson had 43 receptions for 1,229 yards and 11 touchdowns. As a sophomore, he had 54 receptions for 923 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. The 2,152 receiving yards is a school record.
National recruiting analyst Allen Trieu projects Benson, who transferred to Florida State from Alabama, as a second-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.