Championship aspirations: Football team improves to 5-1 again

By Rebecca Carney
Co-Sports Editor

The Hutchinson Community College football team is off to a hot start again this season.

The Blue Dragons are sitting at 5-1 after a big win over Butler Community College on Saturday night at Gowans Stadium. This 5-1 start might look familiar to some folks, as the Blue Dragons started 5-1 during the 2017 season as well.

Although the 2017 Blue Dragons started 5-1, they eventually went down a rocky path. Out of the last six games the football team played last year, they only won two games and finished 7-5. The team hopes to avoid a slide like that again this year.

Blue Dragons coach Rion Rhoades is more optimistic about this year’s finish. The character of the football team is better than it has been in years’ past. The team also seems to be more prepared and there seems to be more trust between the players and coaches as well.

The team is also still relatively healthy, compared to last year’s team, which lost five of their top 12 offensive linemen. As the season continues, the team hopes to remain healthy and keep their attention on the game.

“Our focus is to just continue to get better at what we do. Getting off to a good start is proven to be an important thing for us. We’ve just played a lot better when we get out of the shoot and score some points right off the bat and get some stops,” Rhoades said.

With only five regular season games left, starting with Saturday’s homecoming game against Highland at Gowans Stadium, the Blue Dragons must continue to work hard.

Leading the way is freshman quarterback Mason Schucker. Schucker, a true freshman from Searcy, Arkansas, is currently tied for first in the Jayhawk Conference with 10 touchdown passes. He has just three interceptions.

“Everybody on the team is excited about being 5-1,” Schucker said. “They know we have a good shot of finishing out the rest of the season really well. We know that it could lead to bigger things as well and everybody’s just really excited to play each week, each game and get out there and practice and get better every day.”

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