Picture courtesy of Camden Augustine

FINAL:

SOUTH 31

HUTCH 10

The Cougars quickly moved on from a Week 2 loss against Maize and turned their attention to Hutchinson, a team they hadn’t beaten in 12 years.

After being on the wrong end of the turnover battle a week ago, South’s defense stepped up and came away with three huge takeaways. Hutchinson’s first offensive series ended with an interception over the middle by Drew Power on quarterback Davin Morgan’s first pass of the game.

From that point on, South’s defense stayed ready to jump the passing lane and create more opportunities for the offense. Later in the game, South’s defensive backs Kyeson Bunville and Kobie Henley picked off Morgan twice, each on shots to the end zone which stopped Hutchinson from scoring.

While the Cougar’s secondary anticipated the deep ball from Hutchinson, Izrael Telles and his receivers executed their own shots in exciting fashion.

The scoring started with Telles finding Jay Curtis in the back corner of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown on a signature rainbow throw.

Next, Noah Hines continued to call the end zone his second home, making a contested 20-yard catch over a Salthawks defender for a highlight grab and his fifth touchdown of the season.

The third score came on the most fun play of the season. Jay Curtis came in motion and took the football with his eyes down field and fired a perfect pass toward Noah Hines, threading the needle through two defenders for a 27-yard touchdown pass, a first for the Cougar’s receiver.

The fourth and final South touchdown was scored by running back Armane Redmond. Hutchinson saw a steady dose of Redmond throughout the night and struggled to bottle up the ground game. Redmond spent the game slivering through holes up front and turning short gains into chunk plays by breaking tackles and finding creases in the Salthawks defense.

He scored his first touchdown of the season on 4-yard carry to make it 28-3 at the half.

Hutchinson’s offense had its most life coming out of the break and marched 80 yards down the field with Davin Morgan capping it off with a 10-yard touchdown run.

Turnovers and penalties stalled all of the Salthawk’s drives after that,  leaving the game thinking about what might have been if they played cleaner.

After a Yaden Montanez field goal put the finishing touches on a wire-to-wire victory, the Cougars celebrated their first win against Hutchinson in 12 years. Another streak was broken and another positive stride taken.

The Cougars found their identity again on the road and look to bring it with them back to Salina for a Week 4 matchup with Valley Center.