A huge offensive performance – spearheaded by its rising sophomore star – propelled the Houston football team to a 61-22 victory Friday against Cuba and 2-0 start to the 2018 season.
The Tigers racked up 628 offensive yards as they scored the program’s most points in a decade. Sophomore Daniel Hutcheson led the way with 252 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
HHS, which beat Sarcoxie the opening week, won its first two games for the first time since 2015. It will go for its first 3-0 start since 2008 on Friday when the Tigers open conference play at Salem. HHS has lost 37 straight games in the matchup dating back to 1980.
Hutcheson has been spectacular in his first season starting for the offensive unit. He followed up a 132-yard, two-touchdown performance in the opener by finding the end zone five times against Cuba and racking up more than half of Houston’s 474 rushing yards. Bowling over and sprinting past would-be tacklers, Hutcheson totaled his 252 rushing yards on just 12 attempts –– averaging 21 yards per carry. He scored on touchdown runs of 41, 2, 54, 17 and 59 yards.
Hutcheson is just 16 yards shy of 400 yards in two games and averaging 14.8 yards per carry. He has found the end zone every 3.7 times he has touched the ball.
And against Cuba, he was hardly alone.
Senior fullback Aiden Sawyer rushed for 90 yards on eight attempts and found the end zone for the second straight week. Freshman Bailey Hurst had 96 rushing yards, highlighted by a 60-yard scoring scamper in the fourth quarter.
Junior quarterback Dakota Burchett was 7-of-12 passing for a career-best 154 yards and his first touchdown pass of the season. Connor Wilson had three catches for a career-high 84 yards and his first-ever score.
Houston’s 61 points were the most since the Tigers scored 62 in the 2008 regular-season finale. It was also against Cuba. And HHS needed them all.
The Wildcats (0-2) totaled 478 yards of their own – the biggest chunk by sophomore quarterback T.J. Bright, who competed 21 of his 40 passes for 425 yards and two scores. Wideout Gavin Sparks, who came into the game leading the region in receiving yards, had nine receptions for 155 yards.
But Bright was burnt by a Houston defense that intercepted him four times, highlighted by a 79-yard pick-six by senior Paydon Dixon at the end of the second quarter. Burchett snatched his third and fourth interceptions of the season.
Hutcheson put Houston ahead less than three minutes into the game when he took a reverse – his first touch of the game – 41 yards down the left sideline and into the end zone. CJ Lee’s kick was good.
Cuba quickly responded when Bright hit Sparks for a 64-yard touchdown strike less than two minutes later. But the Wildcats wouldn’t score again in the half.
Hutcheson’s two-yard run made it 15-6 and after a Cuba fumble that stalled a drive inside the 10-yard line, Hutcheson broke loose for a 54-yard score.
Burchett picked off Bright after Cuba moved into the red zone on its next possession. The Tigers then covered 60 yards on 10 plays and on fourth-and-goal from the 20-yard line, Wilson took a tunnel screen – called a ‘jailbreak screen’ by the Tigers – and weaved through defenders into the end zone.
Dixon concluded the first-half scoring with an interception on the HHS 21-yard line and sprinting the other way for a defensive score. HHS led 34-6.
Sawyer’s 30-yard run capped a quick scoring drive on the Tigers’ first possession of the second half. Hutcheson added a pair of third-quarter touchdown runs. Houston’s final points were Hurst’s long run with 9:55 remaining in the game.