Cook steps in at QB
to spark Blue Dragons
past Iowa Central
No. 14 Hutchinson 41, Iowa Central 21
December 1, 2012
Gowans Stadium, Hutchinson, KS
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Reserve quarterback Kody Cook threw for 272 yards and five touchdowns after entering the game late in the second quarter to lead the 14th-ranked Blue Dragons to a 41-21 victory over Iowa Central in the fourth-annual Salt City Bowl.
Cook moved from receiver to quarterback late in the second quarter, replacing record-setting Blue Dragon quarterback Luke Barnes, who injured his throwing hand early in the game. Down 7-0 Cook guided the Blue Dragons to two touchdown drives late in the first half to lead 14-7 at halftime.
After back-to-back special teams errors that led directly to two Iowa Central touchdowns that gave the Tritons a 21-14 lead with 6:56 to play in the third quarter, Cook led the Blue Dragon response with four touchdown drives. He tied the game at 21-all with a 2-yard run and then gave the Dragons the lead for good with a 22-yard TD strike to Johns with 13:40 to play in the game.
Named the Salt City Bowl’s Offensive MVP, Cook set bowl records with 20 completions, 30 attempts, 272 passing yards and 272 total yards, while tying a bowl game record with five touchdown passes. Before the switch, he caught one ball for five yards.
Johns set a Salt City Bowl record with four touchdown receptions, catching seven balls for 107 yards. Sophomore Antonio Johnson had bowl records of 10 receptions for 132 yards, including a touchdown.
The Blue Dragons finish 9-3 for the season, winning nine games for the third-straight season and matching the best five-year run in program history with 42 victories. HCC extended its program record with its fifth-straight bowl victory.
Somewhat lost in the shuffle of Cook’s incredible performance was running back Terrell Lane and the Blue Dragon defense.
Lane broke Jamison Palmer’s single-season rushing record, rushing for 96 yards on 18 carries. Lane finished the season with record 1,630 yards. Lane also became the fifth Blue Dragon running back to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a career, finishing with 2,093 yards. He surpassed Arland Bruce for fourth place on the career list.
Salt City Bowl defensive MVP Kenny Flowers (10 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback sack ) led a dominating performance by the Blue Dragons, who held Iowa Central to Salt City Bowl lows of 131 total yards, 38 rushing yards and eight first downs.
Outside of a Salt City Bowl-record 67-yard touchdown pass by Iowa Central’s Teag Klyn to Brandynn Clark, the Blue Defense allowed only 102 yards for the remainder of the game.
Linebacker Brock Long finished with a career-high 14 tackles and sophomore defensive lineman Ben Bradley had a career-best 11 tackles.
Hutchinson’s offense produced 411 total yards on a Salt City Bowl-record 81 offensive snaps, with 316 yards in the air and 95 rushing yards. The Blue Dragons also had a bowl-game high 25 first downs.
Iowa Central’s Klyn finished 9 of 22 passing for 131 yards with a touchdown and interception. Clark had five catches for 102 yards.
Iowa Central took a 7-0 lead just 4:51 seconds into the game when Kyle and Clark connected for a 67-yard catch and run for a touchdown.
From that point, the offense sputtered, missing a field goal, giving the ball up on downs, a fumble and three consecutive punts. HCC had just 94 total yards over its first seven possessions before Cook entered the game.
Cook’s first drive was a seven-play, 59-yard scoring drive as the Dragons tied the game on his 32-yard touchdown pass to Johns with 2:09 left in the first half. HCC forced a punt and Cook went 6 for 6, tossing a 9-yard TD strike to Johns with 6.9 seconds left to give HCC a 14-7 lead.
Iowa Central (6-5) got back into the game when HCC special teams had problems on back-to-back punts midway through the third quarter.
First the Tritons blocked a Lane punt and Joe Feldspaugh recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-14 tie with 7:51 to play in the third quarter. The Tritons forced a 3-and-out and a high punt snap bounded around in the end zone and Nash Stopko recovered it for a touchdown and a 21-14 Iowa Central lead with 6:56 to play in the quarter.
The Blue Dragons answered right back, though, as Cook completed four passes during a 70-yard march that took 10 plays. HCC tied the game with a 2-yard Cook run with 2:33 to play in the third quarter.
Cook put the finishing touches on his MVP performance with three fourth-quarter TD passes of 22 to Johns, 11 to Johnson and 13 to Johns while HCC’s defense held IC to just 19 total yards in the fourth quarter.