Derby builds big lead, then holds off Hutchinson 35-28
This was going to be easy.
Derby ran the ball when they wanted. They threw the ball when they wanted. And they scored points when they wanted — enough for a 28-7 halftime lead over once-mighty Hutchinson on Friday night.
Later, after a 35-28 win that wasn’t decided until the last minute of the game, easy was the furthest thing from the minds of Derby coach Brandon Clark and his team.
“We’re inexperienced,” Clark said. “And I think that shows our maturity level right now. At halftime we talked about coming out and taking it to them, about not letting off the throttle … and our first series or two, we came out hard.
“Then things didn’t go our way.”
When things did go Derby’s way on Friday, the Panthers looked like a team resembling last year’s Class 6A championship squad.
Derby (3-1) scored on its first two drives on touchdown runs by Brady Rust and Curtis Whitten for a 14-0 lead with 4:40 left in the first quarter.
On defense, the Panthers seemed to have figured out Hutchinson’s flexbone offense, containing stars Turner Wintz and Blaik Middleton.
By the time Whitten scored his third rushing touchdown of the first half – a 7-yard run where he leaped and extended the ball to touch the far pylon with his left hand – it seemed like the rout was on.
“We got a little too comfortable,” Rust said. “You could see that.”
Hutchinson’s rally didn’t start until Derby started to stumble. After Rust’s 21-yard touchdown run gave the Panthers a 35-7 lead with 8:04 left in the third quarter, Derby seemed primed to go up even more on its next drive.
But holding penalties negated 60- and 25-yard runs by Whitten on back-to-back plays and the Panthers were forced to punt.
Whitten finished with 127 yards of total offense – 87 rushing and 40 receiving.
“It does take something out of (Whitten) and it is deflating,” Clark said. “We’ve got receivers holding downfield and that’s been a problem for us all year long. When you’re tired and you’re not moving your feet, that’s when you usually get called for holding.”
Hutchinson started to shred Derby’s lead early in the fourth quarter on long drives and short touchdown runs by Wintz and Jacob Hardenburger, then got within one score when Wintz found Josh Patterson for a 51-yard touchdown pass with 2:12 remaining to make the score 35-28.
Derby went 3-and-out on its next series, but Patterson muffed the punt around midfield with 1:34 left and Derby was able to run out the clock.
“We can’t let that happen again,” Rust said. “How we played tonight, that’s not being a team. We’ve got people blaming each other for mistakes on the sideline … that’s not how it’s done.”
Middleton finished with 155 rushing yards on 22 carries. Wintz threw for 124 yards and ran for 31.
“I’ll never fault (Patterson) for trying to make a play,” Middleton said. “Our team showed a lot tonight, showed we don’t have any quit in us. It’s disappointing to lose, but I’m proud of how we played. We never stopped fighting.”
Derby | 14 | 14 | 7 | 0 | — | 35 |
Hutchinson | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 | — | 28 |
D—Whitten 15 run (Moeder kick), 9:16
D—Rust 9 run (Moeder kick), 4:40
H—Wintz 1 run (Luce kick), 10:03
D—Whitten 25 run (Moeder kick), 8:56
D—Whitten 7 run (Moeder kick), 2:51
D—Rust 21 run (Moeder kick) 8:04
H—Wintz 1 run (Luce kick), 10:00
H—Hardenberger 3 run (Luce kick)
H—Patterson 51 pass from Wintz (Luce kick), 2:21
Individual statistics
Rushing—Derby, Whitten 13-87, Rust 11-36, Xanders 2-7. Hutchinson, Middleton 22-155, Wintz 18-31, Hardenberger 11-43.
Passing—Hutchinson, Wintz 8-14-124-0. Derby, Rust 8-12-95-0.
Receiving—Hutchinson, Middleton 2-20, Hardenberger 1-14, D. Patterson 2-16, J. Patterson 1-51, Stoecklein 1-20, Tolbert 1-23. Derby, Xanders 2-28, Whitten 2-40, Lemons 2-13, Moeder 2-14.
This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 12:55 AM with the headline "Derby builds big lead, then holds off Hutchinson 35-28."