IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- The Ellsworth Panthers drew a tough opponent for their first home game of the season on Saturday afternoon, and No. 3 ranked Hutchinson validated their lofty rating with a 70-7 victory at Cadet Field.

The visitors from Kansas rolled to a 35-7 halftime lead and added 35 unanswered points in the 2nd half to win their 4th consecutive game in the series between the two teams.

The bright spot for ECC came in the final minute of the first period, after Hutchinson had grabbed an early 14-0 advantage.  The Panthers got on the scoreboard when Joshua Bauer connected with Darrius Jackson on a 54-yard touchdown pass.  Chris Ndushabandi's extra point let ECC cut the lead in half at the end of the opening quarter.  

After that, it was all Hutch, however.  They scored the game's final 56 points, getting three TDs in the second stanza and closing out the contest with a 28-point 4th quarter.  The Panthers have been victimized by the big play in their first two games and that was true against Huthinson, who scored on a 64-yard run in the 2nd period and a 75-yarder in the 3rd.

Bauer threw for 196 yards by the Panthers really struggled to run the ball, with a minus-17 yards rushing on 30 attempts and no first downs on the ground.  Ellsworth was just 2-for-18 on 3rd down, punted 12 times and gave up 8 sacks.  Bauer completed 17-of-54 passes.  Jackson caught 5 passes for 97 yards and Malcolm Gillie hauled in 3 for 19 yards.  Micah Hobin, Aghogho Eyafe, Ndushabandi, Kamari Watson, Ernesto Rios, David Hall and Trent Lane also had receptions for the Panthers.  Hobin's catch came in a late second quarter drive that had ECC get inside the Blue Dragons' 5-yard line, before turning the ball over on downs.

The Panthers have their bye week next Saturday while Iowa Central goes to Hutchinson.  The following week, Ellsworth travels to Fort Dodge to battle Iowa Central.