GMC’s month-long focus to come clear on Sunday

Published 9:06 am Wednesday, December 4, 2024

For the first time ever, two well-known names in the annals of junior college football will go toe-to-toe between the lines. What better setting, then, for a Hutchinson Community College vs. Georgia Military College clash than Milledgeville’s Davenport Field?

And what better stakes than a bid to play for the NJCAA Division I championship?

The extra bleachers are going to be set along with other extra amenities in anticipation of the largest crowd expected to fill Davenport Sunday for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff between the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs and the No. 3 Hutchinson College Blue Dragons. Both programs have one Division I championship, GMC’s coming in 2001 while Hutchinson claimed it all in the spring of 2021 for a season postponed from the fall of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Bulldog head coach Rob Manchester reiterated that this is meeting No. 1 for his program and the Blue Dragons, a Kansas program that once called New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara and former Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson one of their own.

GMC last played on Nov. 9 at Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania and completed a 10-1 regular season with its ninth win in a row 35-33. The last game for the Dragons was Nov. 16, a 42-17 win over Garden City College to make them 9-1. Their only loss was to Butler College, also in Kansas, 27-22 on Oct. 26.

The common opponent for the two is No. 1 Iowa Western College, a team Hutchinson beat 38-37 Sept. 7 after it came to Milledgeville and won in overtime 42-41. If Iowa Western wins its national semifinal with Northwest Mississippi on Friday, it will meet Sunday’s winner at Davenport for the whole bag-full in Canyon, Texas, Dec. 18. Iowa Western is seeking its third straight Division I title.

Watching the NJCAA polls, which provides the national semifinalists from its top four spots, had Manchester and his crew thinking Hutchinson was in their future since returning from Lackawanna. It was just a matter of home or away. Either way, it’s still the same Blue Dragons team with two productive quarterbacks, the national co-leader in rushing touchdowns with GMC’s Keenan Phillips and a defense that only gives up 14.5 points per game.

It’s Waymond Jordon Jr. who has 1,332 rushing yards for Hutchinson and 18 touchdowns on the ground. He is also one of six Dragons with a receiving touchdown. Between Samari Collier and Christian Johnson, Hutchinson has 2,093 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns (also 11 interceptions). Tre Brown is their leading receiver with 500 yards and nine scores.

So the Thanksgiving weekend for Manchester was about watching football … on film.

“Taking it all in. They’re good,” he said. “Always have been. The head coach, Drew Dallas, has done a great job. They are big up front. They have one of the top running backs in the country. Very good receivers.”

Manchester said Collier is the main guy to take the snaps and that he and Johnson have similar styles.

“Obviously they’re talented defensively,” said Manchester. “They can run. They have guys committed to Power 4 programs. They’ve done a great job getting guys in and out.”

Blue Dragons who could get into the Bulldog backfield are Marshon Oxley (eight sacks, 10 TFLs) at end, defensive back La’Modrick Spencer (7.5 TFLs) and end K.J. Henson (six sacks). Hutchinson has 13 interceptions with two returned for touchdowns, both in a 99-0 win over Ellsworth when 14 TDs were scored.

Since Nov. 9, the Bulldogs had the following week off, then resumed a practice routine on Nov. 18. They got to go home for Thanksgiving, then returned to campus for ‘game week’ on Monday. It will involve an extra day with kickoff on Sunday.

“I don’t know if they (overate on Thanksgiving) or not,” said Manchester. “Our guys are in good shape. We play hard. I wasn’t worried about them going home. They needed the rest.

“We’ve had film, and we’ve been looking at (Hutchinson) since the week of Nov. 11. We put our focus on them believing that’s who we’d play … from when we got done playing Lackawanna. We’ve had a lot of preparation.”

What does all that study tell the Bulldogs?

“First and foremost we have to win the turnover margin,” said Manchester. “We have to hold on to the ball, limit their opportunities. We have to be strong in the kicking game, and I think we have been all year. We are going to do what we do offensively, run the ball, and I think we will. Defensively, we have to stop (Jordan Jr.), get them in passing situations.

“We’re looking to make it a 60-minute game. That’s what we’ve been able to do against the teams that have been really good. It was a battle for 60 minutes. We have to overcome adversity … play one series at a time. We have to make them earn the victory.”

Sixty minutes? It took about four and a half hours to play a college game last Friday. GMC knows about overtime, having lost to Iowa Western in an extra session but also winning at Snow College in Utah 31-24. Those games didn’t go eight OTs, and while Manchester did say the NJCAA rules often parallel those of the NCAA he doesn’t know if it could come down to two-point conversion plays Sunday.

“I feel like we belong,” the coach said. “It’s going to take an effort like we did against Snow. I think we can rise to the challenge.

“Hosting is icing on the cake. It’s going to be crowded, a heck of an atmosphere. It’s a great day to be able to showcase our community and the institution.”

All tickets are sold through the NJCAA at Davenport on Sunday or in advance at https://www.njcaa.org/tickets. There will be a clear bag policy and paid parking at all GMC lots. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+.