SARCOXIE – Backed by its first shutout in six seasons and 100-yard performances by Daniel Hutcheson and Paydon Dixon, the Houston Tigers opened the 2018 season Friday with an 18-0 blanking of Sarcoxie.
HHS won its opening game for the first time since 2015 – the debut for now fourth-year head coach Eric Sloan – and shut out an opponent for the first time since Sept. 7, 2012. The Tigers blanked Cuba, who they face in this Friday’s home opener, 6-0 in that matchup.
Hutcheson and Dixon were a powerful 1-2 punch in the backfield to lead Houston’s offense. Hutcheson ran for 132 yards and two scores while Dixon, who has nursed a hamstring injury in the preseason, had 20 carries for 124 yards.
The Tigers (1-0) got a third touchdown from their fullback, senior Aiden Sawyer.
Houston’s defense held Sarcoxie’s triple-option offense to 2.8 yards per carry and just 177 total yards. HHS senior Dakota Burchett had a pair of interceptions and Hutcheson had the game’s lone sack.
The Bears (0-1), who went 9-2 last year, actually found the end zone with 35 seconds left in the first half following a Houston fumble. But the score was wiped away by a penalty for 12 players on the field.
The Tigers gained 305 yards on 61 plays, including 283 rushing yards. They overcame eight penalties and six fumbles – two that they lost.
Hutcheson, a sophomore, put Houston ahead midway through the first quarter on the team’s first drive. Taking a jet sweep around the left edge, he cut back toward the middle and leapt through the arms of two potential tacklers to cap an 11-yard run. The PAT was no good.
Houston’s second score was an impressive 99-yard drive that ended with Sawyer tight-roping inside the sideline to finish a 23-yard run after taking a double handoff from Dixon. The 10-play drive included 22- and 35-yard rushes by Dixon and Hutcheson. Dixon converted a fourth-and-4 with a six-yard run two plays before Sawyer’s touchdown at the 8:55 mark of the second quarter.
The Tigers’ final points were set up by another fourth-down conversion: this time a 15-yard pass from Burchett to tight end CJ Lee. Hutcheson scored from 16 yards out on the ensuing play with 9:09 remaining in the game.