Panthers fall to Hutch 56-7

By Mike Courson

No team had played No. 1 Hutchinson close for four quarters before Friday’s regular season finale in Great Bend. Try as they may, the Panthers were no match for the five-time champions either, falling 56-7.

“You can’t fully prepare for how good they are, and they are very good,” Panther coach Bo Black said. “We fell off drastically when we lost (Allan) Holt—not that that would have made a difference in the outcome by any means—but we sure missed him and had an offensive game plan designed around him. They’re just a great football team, a classy football program with a great head coach, a great staff. They’re just a great football team, one of the best we’ve ever gone up against.”

Hutchinson opened the game with a 12-play, 80-yard drive to score 5:18 into the game. The Salthawks used five backs on the drive, a theme they would repeat all night.

Great Bend struggled offensively throughout the night, not picking up a first down until the third play of the second half. On the second play from scrimmage, Greg Hildebrand completed a six-yard pass to Jordan Basye, but senior Allan Holt was injured on the play and had to leave the game.

“It’s very disappointing for him in the last game of the season to go out like that,” said Black. “He’s been a great player for us, so that one hurt a lot.”

On the prior play, senior lineman Tryal Alexander had to leave the game with an injury.

The Panthers were forced to punt, and after a muffed catch that rolled near the endzone, Hutchinson star Deveon Dinwiddie put on a show with a 96-yard return for a touchdown.

The Salthawks put together another drive, largely behind Dinwiddie, for a 21-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. Ben Heeney scored that touchdown from six yards out.

The Hutchinson ground attack was relentless, rolling up 238 yards of rushing offense in the first half. Quarterback Cooper Bell scored from 13 yards out to cap a three-minute drive and give the Salthawks a 28-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

After a Great Bend punt, Hutchinson used four plays to cover 48 yards in 56 seconds for a 35-0 lead on a one-yard run from Dinwiddie.

Hutchinson picked up the final points in the half on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Bell to Dinwiddie with 1:27 to play.

The Salthawks gained 325 yards in the first half compared to 14 yards from Great Bend.

The Panthers opened the second half with their first drive of the game. Basye’s 18-yard run gave Great Bend a first down, and the Panthers used eight plays to move to midfield. The ensuing punt snap, however, went well over the head of Angel Gutierrez, and Matt Galliart was able to recover the ball in the endzone for a 49-0 lead with 9:03 to play in the third quarter.

Deshawn Dinwiddie tacked on the final Hutchinson touchdown on a 33-yard run just two minutes into the final quarter.

Never giving up, Great Bend would catch a break and capitalize. The Salthawks muffed another punt, and the Panthers recovered to set up an eight-play, 32-yard drive. Facing fourth-and-goal, Hildebrand snuck around the end and stretched for the touchdown with 3:09 to play.

“It pumped everyone up at the end,” Basye said. “We wanted to score.”

Despite the score, the touchdown was a small payoff for a season of hard work.

“Our main goal was to play with pride and heart,” Basye said. “It’s our last game, and that’s what we came out to do and we accomplished that I think.”

Great Bend will lose 22 seniors for the 2010 campaign.

“It was a super senior group that came to practice every day and took a lot of pride in what they did,” said Black. “It was never a lack of effort. I thought they had a disappointing end to their senior season, but it was never a lack of effort. They had some memorable wins and tough losses along the way.”

Though the season ends with a 4-5 record and disappointing loss, it was not a year without triumph.

“We had three comebacks in our season,” Basye said. “At Wichita Heights, with the delay and everything, we came back and won that game. Then we came back against Dodge and blocked two punts. It’s been a great season. I love these guys and would do anything for them.”

Game Statistics

GB HHS

Total Offense 91 432

Rushing 36-73 42-345

Passing 3-10-18-0 3-7-87-0

First Downs 5 21

Penalties 7-50 4-34

Individual Statistics

Rushing – GB: Basye 7-32; Hildebrand 21-14; Lespierre 4-13; Gutierrez 1-7; Dobratz 3-7. HHS: Stucky 5-97; Ds. Dinwiddie 8-72; Dv. Dinwiddie 9-60; Smith 8-44; Munds 4-30; Heeney 6-33; Bell 2-9.

Passing – GB: Hildebrand 3-10-18-0. HHS: Bell 3-6-87-0; Munds 0-1-0-0.

Receiving – GB: Basye 2-13; Williams 1-5. HHS: Weber 1-34; Dv. Dinwiddie 1-20; Roehm 1-33.