BLUE DRAGONS START POSTSEASON WITH HIGHLAND ON SUNDAY AT GOWANS

The Blue Dragon defense had 11 quarterback sacks three weeks ago in a 20-7 victory at Highland. Hutchinson and Highland meet in the opening round of the Region VI Playoffs on Sunday at Gowans Stadium. (Andrew Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)
The Blue Dragon defense had 11 quarterback sacks three weeks ago in a 20-7 victory at Highland. Hutchinson and Highland meet in the opening round of the Region VI Playoffs on Sunday at Gowans Stadium. (Andrew Carpenter/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

BLUE DRAGON FOOTBALL – REGION VI PLAYOFFS

No. 3-Seed Hutchinson (5-2) vs. No. 6-Seed Highland (2-5)

Round: Quarterfinals
When: Sunday, November 7, 2021
Where: Gowans Stadium, Hutchinson, KS
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9), 12:30 p.m. with Countdown to Kickoff (Glen Grunwald-PBP; Rob Dreher-Color)
Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 12:30 p.m.
Twitter: @bluedragonsport
CLICK FOR BLUE DRAGON GAME NOTES (PDF Format)

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College football team enters the postseason on a two-game winning streak and will open the Region VI Playoffs on Sunday against the Highland Scotties in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Gowans Stadium.

Originally, the Blue Dragons were preparing for a rematch with Garden City, but the playoff bracket was blown up on Tuesday after Butler was forced to forfeit all five regular-season wins because of an ineligible player. That means the Blue Dragons receive an extra victory and will be the No. 3 overall seed for the playoffs with a 5-2 record. Highland is the sixth seed at 2-5. Originally, the Scotties were to have played at Independence.

The winner of the Hutchinson-Highland game will meet the Independence-Fort Scott winner next Sunday at the site of the highest remaining seed. The championship game is set for Sunday, November 21 at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita.

Hutchinson and Highland meet October 16 at Highland. The Blue Dragons won 20-7 at Porter Family Stadium. Anwar Lewis rushed for 174 yards while Deshon Singleton had two interceptions and the Blue Dragon defense racked up 11 quarterback sacks.

The Blue Dragons had the final week of the regular season off last weekend. Two weeks ago, quarterback Dylan Laible put up NJCAA National Player of the Week numbers completing 16 of 24 passes for career highs of 363 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-17 victory at Dodge City.

Highland dropped its final three games of the regular season entering the playoffs. After the loss to Hutchinson on Oct. 16, the Scotties lost 41-0 at home to Iowa Central and fell last week, 27-21, at Dodge City. The Scotties won their first game of the season, 27-21 over Fort Scott. Highland's other win came from the forfeit by Butler.

Sunday's postseason meeting will be the fourth all time between Hutchinson and Highland. The Blue Dragons are 3-0 in postseason meetings with the Scotties. Hutchinson won 29-7 in 1999, 48-13 in 2000 and 65-0 in 2004.

The Jayhawk Conference is using the postseason playoff format for the first time since 2013. The KJCCC then entered into the scheduling alliance with the Iowa Conference in 2014. That alliance is on a two-year hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Blue Dragons are 20-22 all-time in the KJCCC/Region VI Playoffs. The Blue Dragons won the 1995 playoffs.