DRAGONS HEADED BACK TO TITLE GAME AFTER SEMIFINAL SHUTOUT

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Quarterback Christian Johnson accounted for 325 total yards and two touchdowns and the Blue Dragon defense pitched its third shutout of the season as the top-ranked Hutchinson Community College football team is headed back to the NJCAA Playoff Championship game.

The top-seeded Blue Dragons defeated No. 4 Northwest Mississippi 27-0 in the NJCAA Division I Football Playoff semifinals on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium. The victory was the 15th straight for Hutchinson, which is now the third-longest winning streak in program history.

Hutchinson (11-0) advances to its second-straight and fourth overall NJCAA Championship game where it will play No. 2-seed Iowa Western on Wednesday, December 17 at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium in Canyon, Texas. Last season, the Blue Dragons defeated the Reivers 28-23 in the 2024 championship game and defeated IWCC 30-27 on September 13 at Gowans Stadium.

The Blue Dragons tie a program record for wins in a season, matching the 2014, 2022 and 2024 teams with 11 wins in a season.

Blue Dragon head coach Drew Dallas earned his 60th victory on the Hutchinson sideline. Now in his sixth season, Dallas is 60-5 with six KJCCC Championships (5 regular season, 1 playoff), four national semifinal appearances and now four berths in the national championship game.

Johnson led the Blue Dragon offense with his first career 100-yard rushing game, rushing for 102 yards on 11 carries with a 10-yard touchdown run. The sophomore quarterback completed 18 of 26 passes for 223 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass. The 18 completions tied a season high for Johnson, who added a 37-yard punt that was downed at the Ranger 8-yard line.

Johnson became the sixth Blue Dragon quarterback to reach 3,000 career passing yards with 3,013 yards. He is the eighth Blue Dragon quarterback to surpass 2,000 passing yards in a season with 2,030 yards.

Johnson led the Blue Dragons in outgaining the Rangers 371-216 holding the ball for a season-best 38 minutes, 23 seconds in time of possession. The Dragons had 148 rushing yards.

Receiver Derrick Salley Jr. had game highs of seven receptions for 84 yards. Eddie McLaughlin had four receptions for 26 yards and Bobby Shaw had three catches for 69 yards, including a key 53-yard reception for a first down and a 5-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

Lekedrin Harvey had 14 carries for 21 yards and Kade Smith had 12 carries for 13 yards and a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Blue Dragon freshman kicker Alejandro de la Poza tied a Blue Dragon single-season record for made field goals. He kicked field goals of a season-long 44 yards and from 20 yards to tie Kevin Coleman (2004) and Cole Segraves (2023) with 14 field goals for the season.

Defensively, the Blue Dragons held Northwest Mississippi 184 yards below their 400.3 yard-per-game average. The Rangers had 176 passing yards and a season-low 40 rushing yards. Northwest quarterback Neko Fann was 15 of 28 passing for 176 yards and he rushed for 25 yards.

The Blue Dragons sacked Fann three times, twice by Kevin Moorer and once by Jlynn Allen. Jeffrey Manns and Dalton Rokey both had fumble recoveries.

Hutchinson took the opening kickoff 75 yards in 11 plays, converting three third-down situations. Smith, who had a 24-yard reception on a Johnson scramble into the red zone, capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 10:11 to play in the opening quarter.

The Blue Dragons took advantage of a Northwest Mississippi muffed punt, in which long snapper Dalton Rokey recovered at the Ranger 7. Three plays later, Johnson found Shaw for 5-yard touchdown pass and a 14-0 Blue Dragon lead with 11:59 to play in the second quarter.

After a Blue Dragon defensive stop, Johnson capped a three-play, 43-yard scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown run and a 21-0 Dragon lead with 8:26 to go in the second quarter. De la Poza made it 24-0 with a season-long 44-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.

The Blue Dragon defense held Northwest Mississippi six first downs and 155 yards in the second half. The Dragons forced one takeaway with Manns' fourth-quarter fumble recovery.

The only points came with 4 minutes remaining in the game on de la Poza's single-season-record-tying 20-yard field goal for a 27-0 lead.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 3-1 in the NJCAA Playoff semifinals and 5-2 all-time in the NJCAA Playoffs. … The Dragons are now 19-9-2 all-time in NJCAA postseason bowl and playoff games. … The Blue Dragons posted their first shutout in an NJCAA Playoff game and just the second all-time postseason shutout. The previous shutout was 57-0 over Dakota College in the 2013 Salt City Bowl. … Christian Johnson moved into sixth place in career completions (212), tied PJ Peters (1994-95) in career passing touchdowns (28), sixth in single-season touchdown passes (21) and ninth in single-season completions (147). … Derrick Salley Jr. moved to eighth in career receiving yards (1,126), ninth in career receptions (68) and fifth in career touchdown receptions (12). … Kevin Moorer now has 9.5 quarterback sacks for a season.