FINAL:
HUTCH 35
SOUTH 13
Friday night’s Week 4 matchup between the Salthawks and Cougars was their third meeting on the turf in two seasons. They previously met this same week last year but also met in the first round of the playoffs, when Hutchinson ended South’s season.
The Cougars had not forgotten, and knew they had to contain Hutchinson’s offense to play spoiler this time around.
Hutch had a packed homecoming crowd behind them and came out throwing the ball deep. Senior quarterback Robert Hunter aired it out on the first play from scrimmage to receiver Larry Jeremiah Jr. for a huge gain and proceeded to reach the end zone only a couple plays later.
South added to the early trouble by failing to recover the ensuing kickoff which was recovered by Hutch at South’s 34-yard line. The very next play from scrimmage, Hunter found D’Angelo Gray for the second score of the first quarter and before the Cougars offense could take a snap it was 14-0.
The Cougars first drive down two scores had a little bit of everything. Twice it looked like their opening drive was stalled, but twice they converted on fourth down to keep it alive.
The first fourth and eight was a perfectly executed fake punt which saw Caden Stauffer carry the football into Salthawks territory for a first down. Later on fourth and short, Landon Huffman took a direct snap and carried it across the line to gain for another fourth down conversion.
A drive filled with gutsy calls concluded with sophomore quarterback Izzy Telles rolling out to his right and slinging a 45-yard bomb to a wide open Jay Curtis for another deep touchdown connection between the two. Telles has now thrown for nine touchdowns in four games, seven to Curtis.
Trailing 21-6 to start the second half, South stopped Hutchinson on fourth down to quickly get the ball back and put together another scoring drive capped off by Armane Redmond rushing for his second touchdown of the season. But 21-13 was as close as South got.
Hutchinson continued to take shots down the field and better establish its run game in the second half with senior running back Jeremyah Gaitho-Karanu to pull away and end their homecoming game in victory formation.
The Salthawks improved to 3-1 while the Cougars fell to 0-4. Next up Hutchinson travels to Derby and South finally comes home to host Valley Center.
