Sports
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The Hutchinson Collegian Friday, December 1, 2017
Athlete of the week
Merissa Anderson/Collegian Editor Hutchinson Community College’s Quen Head (11) and Colby Turner (24) chase Coffeyville’s Derrick Wiggins during a game earlier this season at Gowans Stadium. The Blue Dragons end their season Saturday in the Salt City Bowl against Eastern Arizona.
Time to go bowling By Lucas Barlow Sports Editor After four months of football, Hutchinson Community College’s season will end on Saturday, and it’s been a wild one. As Hutchinson is bowl eligible, the Blue Dragons will get to play one final game of the season. Before Thanksgiving, it was announced that the Blue Dragons will face Eastern Arizona in the Salt City Bowl. This will be coach Rion Rhoades’ seventh Salt City Bowl, and the opponent is a familiar one as they played Eastern Arizona back in 2010. Rhoades believes it’s going to be a challenging matchup “Their offense is hard to get prepared for because it’s so unorthodox, you don’t see it much these days,” he said. “It’s hard to simulate in practice. And on defense, well, everything they’re good at,
we struggle with.” The Gila Monsters run a flexbone offense, a formation that is rare in college football. Although the Blue Dragons are up against a good team, Rhoades still has a high amount of confidence in his squad “After Thanksgiving, everyone showed up very engaged in practice. I think they know that we’re facing a good football team. Their hungry and we got something to prove here.” The Blue Dragons will play the Gila Monsters on home turf. Game time is at 1 p.m. and will be hosted at Gowans Stadium. In a season where records were broken, comebacks were made and 90 men came together, it’s safe to say this season has been one for the books. The season started off with a rollercoaster of emotions, as the Blue Dragons came back from 25-point deficit to rallying off one of the most exciting games of the
Salt City Bowl
Hutchinson (7-4) vs. Eastern Arizona (7-4) When: 1 p.m. Saturday Where: Gowans Stadium.
season, winning 50-42 against Coffeyville Community College. This comeback was also the largest in Hutchinson’s 86-year history. The following week, Hutchinson travel to Iowa to face No. 12 Iowa Western. This matchup was highly anticipated and it proved to be an exciting one. However, the Blue Dragons couldn’t top the Reivers falling 27-21, their first loss of the season. The Blue Dragons then went on to win their next five games, highlighted a by 91-0 thrashing of Rezolution Prep. During this game, as many as seven team records were broken including, most points in a single game,
largest margin of victory and most touchdowns scored. Hutchinson reached its peak national ranking during this time at No. 9. The Blue Dragons also became bowl eligible after their sixth win of the season. Hard times hit the Blue Dragons the following week. On a cold, wet, homecoming night, their winning streak ended by No. 16 Butler Community College, 38-10. Next, Hutchinson couldn’t find its footing against Independence Community College as the Blue Dragons fell 24-19. The Blue Dragons made it three straight losses with an upset loss to Fort Scott Community College in the final home game of the regular season. In the regular-season finale, the Blue Dragons came together to play a solid game against Dodge City Community College. After two special team touchdowns, Hutchinson won 27-6.
Road warriors: Basketball teams have spent a lot of time away from home By Cassidy Crites Staff writer For the first month of basketball season, the Hutchinson Community College teams have had anything but a home-court advantage. Out of the Blue Dragons’ first eight conference games, six have been away. In November, the Sports Arena hosted two different volleyball tournaments. First was the KCAC volleyball tournament. The arena also had the opportunity to host the NJCAA National Volleyball tournament. These events took place over two different weekends, resulting in road games for the basketball squads. However, there are positives to having so many road games at the beginning of the season. The Blue Dragon teams play four straight home games in the middle of January. Women’s coach John Ontjes wasn’t fond of playing so many road games but has found the posi-
Joel Powers/HutchCC Sports Information Hutchinson Community College’s Alicia Brown (11) goes up for a shot during a game Wednesday against Colby at the Sports Arena. tives in the situation. will help when we return the home “There has been a disadvantage games in January,” Ontjes said. with how many new kids we have Despite all the traveling, both on our team not playing at home, men and women’s Blue Dragon but picking up a few road wins now teams are off to a good start. The
women post a 6-2 overall record and 4-2 in the conference after Wednesday’s win against Colby. Their two losses have come from Seward County Community College and Cloud County Community College, both on their opponent’s court. The men are 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Their one loss came from Cloud County, also at the Thunderdome. While some athletes feel the effect of not playing on their court, Ontjes does not feel as though it has altered the way the girls play. “It would’ve been nice to start the conference with two home games, but I don’t think it’s made that big of an impact on the way we played. The kids we have didn’t know the difference,” Ontjes said. Up next the Blue Dragons hit the road again to face Garden City on Saturday. Hutch rounds out the eight-game start Dec. 6 at Butler.
Blue Dragon sports schedules, results. All home games, events in caps. Football
Dec. 2, EASTERN ARIZONA, 1 p.m.
Men’s basketball
Nov. 1, FRIENDS JV, W 102-56 Nov. 3, NORTH LAKE, W 87-62 Nov. 4, NEO A&M, W 87-42 Nov. 7, at Tabor JV, W 125-61 Nov. 11, at Seward County, W 76-69 Nov. 15, at Cloud County, L 82-79 OT Nov. 18, at Pratt, W 109-100 Nov. 21, COFFEYVILLE, W 99-62 Nov. 25, at Neosho County, W 76-64 Nov. 29, COLBY, W 89-65 Dec. 2, at Garden City, 6 p.m. Dec. 6, at Butler, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9, BARTON, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29, Santa Fe, at Bradenton,
Jan. 3, at Cowley, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6, ALLEN, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10, at Independence, 6 p.m. Jan. 13, DODGE CITY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17, SEWARD COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20, CLOUD COUNTY 5:30 p.m. Jan. 24, PRATT, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27, at Coffeyville, 5 p.m. Jan. 31, NEOSHO COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 4, at Colby, 4 p.m. Feb. 7, GARDEN CITY, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10, BUTLER, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Barton, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17, COWLEY, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21, at Allen County, 8 p.m. Feb. 24, INDEPENDENCE, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 26, at Dodge City, 7:30 p.m.
Women’s basketball
Nov. 1, BETHANY JV, W 81-35 Nov. 7, LAMAR, W 82-45 Nov. 11, at Seward County, L 60-47 Nov. 15, at Cloud County, L 70-63 Nov. 18, at Pratt, W 64-31 Nov. 21, COFFEYVILLE, W 63-53 Nov. 25, at Neosho County, W 75-62 Nov. 29, COLBY, W 90-46 Dec. 2, at Garden City, 6 p.m. Dec. 6, at Butler, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9, BARTON, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29, Santa Fe, at Bradenton, Florida, noon Dec. 30, at Florida Southwestern, 2 p.m. Jan. 3, at Cowley, 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 6, ALLEN, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10, at Independence, 6 p.m. Jan. 13, DODGE CITY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17, SEWARD COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20, CLOUD COUNTY 5:30 p.m. Jan. 24, PRATT, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27, at Coffeyville, 5 p.m. Jan. 31, NEOSHO COUNTY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 4, at Colby, 2 p.m. Feb. 7, GARDEN CITY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 10, BUTLER, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Barton, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 17, COWLEY, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 21, at Allen County, 6 p.m. Feb. 24, INDEPENDENCE, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at Dodge City, 5:30 p.m.
(Nov. 19-25) Jada Mickens, women’s basketball The week: Mickens had quite the week in leading the Blue Dragons to a pair of Jayhawk ConferMickens ence victories. The Liberal freshman first had eight points, five assists and 20 rebounds in a 63-53 win against Coffeyville, and then she had 18 points and 12 rebounds in a 75-62 win against Neosho County. The season: Mickens is averaging 12.4 points and 11.4 rebounds a game.
Volleyball wraps up good season By Lucas Barlow Sports Editor The season wrapped up for the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team, but the team’s two losses in the NJCAA Tournament shouldn’t reflect its overall performance on the season. Led by seven sophomores, the squad traveled thousands of miles, competed in five different states against 21 different opponents, and played 41 matches total, all in the span of a few months. The Blue Dragons started their season 2-2, playing the first four regular-season games in New Mexico. Only a couple weeks later they had to travel to Idaho to compete in another early season tournament. Their 5-game home winning streak ended as Iowa Western beat the Blue Dragons in five sets. The two teams would meet again in the postseason. The Blue Dragons opened postseason play with a win against Dodge City Community College, and then routed Garden City Community College to advance to the Region 6 championship. This set up a pivotal matchup against No. 3 Seward County Community College. In one of the most exciting games of the season, the Blue Dragons upset the Saints to take the Region 6 Championship and advance to the NJCAA Tournament. The Blue Dragons lost to previous opponent, No. 2 Iowa Western, in the first round. Then they lost a close one to St. Petersburg College to end their season. Although the Blue Dragons didn’t win a match in the NJCAA Tournament, they shouldn’t be upset about their performance - they ended the season 27-14 overall and qualified for the national tournament. Sophomore Paige Hiebert was the season-long leader for the team as she led the squad in multiple statistics. Hiebert had the most kills (579), points (652.5), and second-most digs (378) on the team. Sophomore Katie Jorn was accountable for more than 70 percent of teams assists with 1,128.