Hutchinson junior quarterback Canyon Maldonado orchestrates a run-heavy Salthawks offense. But finally on Friday, the quarterback found out what it feels like to be a gunslinger in a two-minute drill. Sure the stakes weren’t too high. The Salthawks were up 28-0 on the Railers with 1:30 left in the first half. But Maldonado, who dawns No. 16, looked as cool and comfortable as that Joe Montana guy did running the no-huddle offense with no timeouts as the Salthawks scored a touchdown with 0:01 left in the first half. The Salthawks went 59-yards down the field in seven plays spanning 1:29. Maldonado completed four passes and eventually ran for a 5-yard touchdown. Surprisingly, it was the Salthawks’ first time ever running the two-minute drill under coach Ryan Cornelsen. They’ve fastidiously practiced it every week. Yet until Friday’s 54-7 blowout win over Newton, they’ve never needed it. Yeah, the drive wasn’t perfect. There was an ineligible receiver penalty. A player lined up wrong on a play and a couple of receivers ran the wrong routes playing at a frantic pace for the first time on a Friday night. However, Cornelsen said his offense showed him that if Hutchinson faces this scenario in dire straits sometime during the season, this group is up for the challenge. “It was nice to be able to run that,” Cornelsen said. “We had some miscues, missed assignments, it was first time we’ve had to do that. With no timeouts. It basically was the toughest situation. We had over half the field to march. I know they liked doing it and I know it was exciting for them.” Faced with leading the offense down the field, Maldonado said he had one thing on his mind – scoring. “I just really wanted to punch one in to solidify the lead,” Maldonado said. “All that was going though my mind was that I wanted to get into the endzone.” After completing a couple of short passes, Maldonado got to show off his impressive arm. He found a wide-open senior wideout Cameron Cohens streaking down the sideline. Cohens caught the ball in stride inside the 10-yard line and eventually went down at the 5-yard line. Maldonado said the completion was a tad lucky because he thought Cohens wasn’t going long. “It was actually kind of a messed up play,” Maldonado said. “He wasn’t even supposed to go deep. He was supposed to be the one faking the red route. He ended up going deep and he was wide open. He made a great catch as well.” After Cohens was tackled, Maldonado hurried to get the Salthawks up to the line and spiked it with less than 10 seconds left in the half. On the next play, he kept it and ran in for the score. Key stat: In the first half, the Salthawk defense truly dominated. The Railers had just a mere 27 yards rushing on 20 carries and managed just one first down. Additionally, the Salthawks picked off two Newton passes. Turning point: With just over eight minutes left in the first half, Hutchinson cornerback Peyton Pendergrass made an athletic interception. He then had a nifty return and took it to the house for a 56-yard touchdown to give the Salthawks a commanding 28-0 lead. With the way Newton was moving the ball offensively, it seemed like this was the knockout punch. Player of the game: Just playing in the first half, Canyon Maldonado completed 7-of-9 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed three times for 41 yards, including 29- and 5-yard scores. He said it: “I thought we played hard,” Hutchinson coach Ryan Cornelsen said. “I thought we executed a lot better. The things we were looking to correct from last week I think we did. There’s always going to be things we’ve got to get better at and we’ll find out those on film. It was a good game for our kids.” Up next: Hutchinson (2-0) will travel to Salina South. Newton (0-2), will play at Valley Center.