Graphic courtesy of Blue Dragon Sports Informtion
By John Mesh
The No. 3-seeded Hutchinson Blue Dragons scored the final 35 points of the game in a 63-21 rout of Georgia Military College in the NJCAA Division I football semifinals at Davenport Field Sunday afternoon in Milledgeville, Ga.
Hutchinson (10-1) will play No. 1 seed Iowa Western (11-1) in the NJCAA Championship game on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Iowa Western, the No. 1 seed, defeated No. 4-seed Northwest Mississippi 42-21 in the first semifinal game Friday night in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Blue Dragon sophomores Waymond Jordan Jr. and Samari Collier were a devastating 1-2 punch.
Jordan, an NJCAA Division I National Player of the Year finalist who will play NCAA Division I football at the University of Central Florida next season, sprinted for touchdown runs of 43 and 58 yards in the first half.
Jordan has rushed for 1,532 yards and 20 touchdowns this season.
Collier passed for two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns. He had 119 yards passing and 96 rushing.
“It felt great (getting a big win),” said HutchCC head coach Drew Dallas during his radio postgame interview. “We fought our way out of adversity in the first half (being down 14-7). I was proud of the way the (the Dragons) responded. We weathered the storm of them playing at home.
“We settled down and realized that it was just another football game. I thought our defensive staff did a good job executing the game plain the second half.”
A large contingent of Hutchinson fans (from the Hutchinson and Georgia) made the trip to Milledgeville.
“It was special because of our Hutchinson fans,” Dallas said. “It got a little rowdy on the sideline. It was special. We got momentum because of the support from our fans.”
Hutchinson defeated Iowa Western 38-37 on Sept. 7 at Titan Stadium in Council Bluffs.
“We know we have a good opponent,” Dallas said. “We have some business to take care of.”
Georgia Military College, which finished the season with a 10-2 record, dominated the clock time in the first quarter with two long possessions.
The Bulldogs’ second possession (11 plays, 82 yards, 6 minutes, 32 seconds) resulted in a Keenan Phillips 16-yard touchdown run with 1:18 left in the opening frame.
The Blue Dragons tied the score at 7-7 on the first play of the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Samari Collier hooked up with sophomore wide receiver Ja’Cory Thomas for a 41-yard TD pass. Nestus Burger kicked the extra point for HutchCC.
Georgia Military College went to a no-huddle offense on its next drive. Quarterback Chip Cooper connected with Phillips for a 28-yard TD pass with 12 minutes left in the second quarter. Freddy Perez kicked the extra point and the Bulldogs took a 14-7 lead.
Jordan broke loose for his 43-yard TD run with 10:06 left in the second half. Burger tied the score at 14-14 with his second PAT kick.
HutchCC’s Walter Samuel blocked a GMC punt into the end zone with 5:35 left in the first half. LaTerrius (“LT”) Robinson recovered the punt for a touchdown. Burger’s PAT kick gave the Blue Dragons a 21-14 lead.
Jordan broke free for his 58-yard TD run with 2:11 left in the first half. Burger’s PAT kick gave HutchCC a 28-14 lead.
GMC cut the HutchCC lead to 28-21 with 40 seconds left in the first half when Cooper hooked up with Phillips for a 43-yard TD pass. Perez kicked the extra point.
Collier was intercepted with 9 seconds left and the first half ended with HutchCC leading GMC 28-21.
HutchCC’s Kedrick Walker intercepted a pass at the 45 and returned it 7 yards to the 38. On the next play, the Blue Dragons scored on a 38-yard TD pass from Collier to Thomas. Burger’s fifth PAT kick gave HutchCC a 35-21 lead over the Bulldogs with 8:56 left in the third quarter.
HutchCC went up 42-21 on a 26-yard TD run by Collier after two penalties pushed the Blue Dragons back.
GMC’s Cooper punted the ball 6 yards and HutchCC’s Avian Rice returned it 28 yards to the GMC 18-yard line. The third quarter ended with HutchCC at the GMC 6-yard line leading 42-21.
Collier added a 2-yard TD run on a 4th-and-goal situation. Burger’s seventh PAT kick made the score 49-21 with 13:20 left in the game.
HutchCC backup quarterback Christian Johnson threw a 30-yard TD pass to Donte Ferrell Jr. with 12:01 left in the game. Burger’s eighth PAT kick made the score 56-21.
Johnson added a 2-yard TD run with 9:14 left in the game. Burger added his ninth PAT kick. That capped the scoring onslaught.
HutchCC and GMC combined for 886 yards of total offense (519 for Hutchinson and 367 for Georgia Military College).
Hutchinson rushed for 370 yards against a GMC defense that allowed 84 rushing yards a game this season and added 149 yards passing. GMC passed for 166 and rushed for 201.
Johnson passed for 30 yards and rushed for 3. Julius Bolden contributed 68 yards rushing on 3 carries. Thomas caught 4 passes for 89 yards.
The Blue Dragons defense was led by Walker with 13 tackles. Hudson Ferralez made 10 stops and La’Modrick Spencer 8.
For GMC, Cooper passed for 166 yards and rushed for 141. Harris Coney led the defense with 7 tackles.
Dallas, Hutchinson’s fifth-year head football coach, improved his career record to 49-5.
This will be HutchCC’s third NJCAA title game appearance under Dallas. The Blue Dragons won the 2020-2021 NJCAA title and lost in the finals in 2022.