Maybe it was the aliens in Roswell, N.M., that caused malfunctions in the main scoreboard, backup scoreboard, game clock and play clocks at New Mexico Military Institute’s Colt Stadium, but that didn’t faze the No. 1 Hutchinson Blue Dragons any.
The No. 1-ranked Blue Dragon football team opened defense of its 2024 national championship with a 76-8 victory over NMMI Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Dragons are 1-0 and NMMI dropped to 1-1.
With Saturday’s victory, sixth-year Hutchinson CC head football coach Drew Dallas notched his 50th victory. He is 50-5 as Blue Dragon head coach.
“It was a fun one,” said Dallas during his radio postgame interview about his 50th win, noting that his 51st win might be tougher to accomplish. “It was nice to get into a rhythm. Our guys responded.
“Our defense played outstanding. We have a lot of things to clean up (Hutchinson committed 12 penalties). We got a lot of guys reps (repetitions).”
The Blue Dragons, who returned five offensive starters (12 letterwinners) and four starters on defense (14 letterwinners) for the 2025 season, put the game away in the first quarter on two touchdown passes by sophomore quarterback Christian Johnson.
Titus Petteway scored the Blue Dragons’ first TD on a 1-yard run. The TD run capped a 3-play, 60-yard drive.
Johnson, who was the Most Valuable Player in the Blue Dragons’ 28-23 victory over Iowa Western in the NJCAA Division I championship, threw TD passes of 62 and 14 yards to Eddie McLaughlin in the opening frame.
Hutchinson extended the lead to 27-0 on an 18-yard TD pass from Johnson to Derrick Salley Jr. with 9:17 left in the second quarter. That was the halftime score.
After forcing an NMMI turnover, Johnson threw his fourth TD pass of the game and his second to Salley from 22 yards out to give the Blue Dragons a 34-0 lead.
L.T. Robinson caught Johnson’s fifth TD pass (24 yards) to make the score 41-0. Johnson tied a Hutchinson CC school record for TD passes in a season-opener.
After Hutchinson recovered an NMMI fumble on the kickoff, Bobby Shaw III caught a 10-yard TD pass from Hesston College transfer Hudson Ferralez to make the score 48-0.
NMMI’s Geramyah Porter caught a 10-yard TD pass from Jake South in the third quarter to cut Hutchinson’s lead to 48-6. The extra point kick was blocked.
The Blue Dragons’ Ferrales threw a 56-yard TD pass and Kumaro Brown returned a Pick-6 15 yards to make the score 62-8 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Hutchinson’s Rayvelle Leak broke loose for a 93-yard TD run to make the score 69-8.
Hutchinson’s Daeshaun Carter’s 1-yard TD run with less than 2 minutes left in the game put the Blue Dragons over the 70-point mark at 76-8. Carter is a sophomore from Maize High School.
Hutchinson’s defense forced eight NMMI turnovers (five fumble recoveries and three interceptions) and the Blue Dragon offense piled up 593 yards of total offense (272 rushing and 321 passing).
Johnson completed 14-of-18 passes for 237 yards and five touchdowns. Ferralez added 84 passing yards. McLaughlin caught 5 passes for 122 yards and two TDs.
MJ Graham had two of the Blue Dragons’ three interceptions. Jeffrey Manns has the other pick. KJ Henson led the Blue Dragons with 6 tackles/ Teegan Haines and Jalen Rice each had 5.
Alejandro de la Poza Cohrs made 6-of-7 extra points for the Blue Dragons and Sam Rayborn was 4-of-4.
Hammond Russell V led the NMMI defense with 10 tackles. Daylan Chichester added 8 stops.
After the season-opening road trip to New Mexico, the No. 1 Blue Dragons will have a home-opening national championship game rematch with No. 2 Iowa Western at noon on Sept. 13 at Gowans Stadium.
The Iowa Western matchup will be the only home game for Hutchinson until Oct. 18 against Independence.
The November portion of the schedule has games at Butler (Nov. 1), Highland (Nov. 8) and the season finale with Garden City at Gowans Stadium (Nov. 15).
