THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Hancock High School Athletics

NEWS

Hutch High blasts Salina South

HUTCH HIGH BLASTS SALINA SOUTH

SALINA ? Hutchinson ran away in the second half on its way to a 37-14 victory Friday night at Salina Stadium, ending a three-game losing streak to Salina South. "We wanted to change history," said Hutchinson slotback Tracy Harris, of the losing streak to South. "We wanted to reestablish that we are here and we are not going to do down easily. "We haven't started a season 3-0 since 2009 and that was a very good team that won a state title." The Cougars trailed 14-7 at halftime, despite losing the battle of field position and putting its defense in tough situations several times. "I thought the defense played great the first half," South coach Sam Sellers said. "We told the kids all week that we can't have three-and-outs on offense and we had a million." Hutchinson quarterbacks completed 1-of-8 pass attempts, but only had two of those attempts after halftime. "We had a couple of injuries and were banged up, but we had to persevere," said Harris. "We kept it basic. We didn't stop moving the ball and kept moving the chains." The Salthawks had a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs in the second quarter from Wyatt Akins and Gabe Ragioza. South cut the deficit in half on a 54-yard scoring pass from Jacob Yarochowicz to Dylan Becker with 1:17 to play before half. Quarterback Canyon Maldonado's 4-yard keeper for the score on the opening possession of the third quarter pushed the lead back to 14 points. The score stayed there until the Salthawks sandwiched a pair of touchdown carries from Ruben Benitez and Traizan Denton around a South safety to make it 37-7. The Cougars found little success on the ground, finishing with 26 yards rushing on 29 carries. Yarochowicz was also sacked five times. "Our running game right now is just bad and there is no reason it should be," Sellers said. "We're more than capable of being very good (running the ball) but it's my job to get that out of them." KEY STAT: Hutchinson had 399 yards of offense in this contest, with 398 of that coming on the ground. And the Salthawks did a good job spreading it around, with seven players finishing with at least five carries. TURNING POINT: Hutchinson broke open what had been a close game with 23 unanswered points in the second half. PLAYER OF THE GAME: Hutchinson slotback Tracy Harris finished with 118 yards on seven carries HE SAID IT: "They were on the field forever. Hutch is so big up front and you can only do that for so long." ? South coach Sam Sellers UP NEXT: Hutchinson (3-0, 2-0 Ark Valley Chisholm League) plays next week at Derby. Salina South (1-2, 1-1) visits Goddard.

PRIVACY POLICY (opens in a new tab) | © 2024 MASCOT MEDIA, LLC