Hutchinson leaves Newton with no room to breathe in 50-7 rout
Discover more from Railer Report
Hutchinson leaves Newton with no room to breathe in 50-7 rout
A fourth-quarter touchdown run by Gomez was the lone highlight of a demoralizing night for the Railers.
HUTCHINSON — There wasn’t much to be said on the Newton sideline when the final horn sounded at Gowans Stadium in Hutchinson on Friday night.
The Railers had been thoroughly outplayed by a team that could seemingly do no wrong. 50-7, the scoreboard read in favor of the Salthawks, as the Newton faithful filed out of the stands quietly ahead of their 45-minute drive home.
“We couldn’t get anything established offensively,” Railers head coach Greg Slade said. “But [Hutchinson] was firing on all cylinders. We knew they had a good offensive line, that young quarterback who did a good job tonight. He struggled last week but was ready to go this week.”
That quarterback, sophomore Robert Hunter, accounted for two Salthawk touchdowns — one passing and one rushing — including the first of the evening that got things rolling for a Hutchinson offense that failed to find the end zone in a 7-3 loss to Goddard Eisenhower the week prior.
The turning point: Following a 7-yard run to paydirt by Zion Burgess to put the Salthawks up 14-0 with 2:09 left in the first quarter, Newton produced a 15-play drive to the Hutchinson 27-yard line that stalled out with a failed 4th & 11 conversion attempt.
For Slade, that moment was a nightmare relived. “Those are the things that kill us,” he said. “We’ve gotta be able to have those drives and finish them. We didn’t finish them tonight. … We have to do better to set ourselves up.”
The key play you likely forgot: Capitalizing on their chances, the Salthawks (while ahead 21-0) downed a punt with 1:28 to go in the second quarter at the Newton 4-yard line. They then used all of their timeouts to force the Railers to punt from their end zone, which Hutchinson returned to the 9. Hunter threw a touchdown on the next snap. Any hope of a comeback vanished.
Newton would manage to break the shutout after falling behind 42-0 when quarterback Colby Gomez hit the edge and trucked 31 yards down the sideline on the first play of the fourth quarter.
From there, both teams played backups and the Salthawks clinched a victory to open AVCTL-I play. With the loss, the Railers slide to 0-2 for the fourth consecutive season. Hutchinson improves to 1-1.
“I told my team that [the Chiefs] lost last night not because they were without their best players but because of their mistakes,” Slade said. “We’ve gotta execute. And if we execute, we’ll be successful.”
Burgess led the Salthawk offense with 106 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 10 carries. Hunter went 6-for-7 for 38 yards and a touchdown through the air. James Hulse led Newton with 14 attempts for 57 yards on the ground. Gomez finished the night with 47 yards rushing on five carries.
Full offensive statistics:
Looking ahead: The Railers will host Maize in their home opener at Fischer Field Stadium to continue AVCTL-I action. The Eagles lost to Andover Central, 24-21, on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Sep. 15.
Brett is a Communication Arts major at Bethel College, Editor-in-Chief of The Bethel Collegian, and Newton (KS) High School football beat writer. You can reach him via email and follow him on X.