2023 Hillsboro Indians Football Preview

HILLSBORO – The Hillsboro Indians are set to continue building the foundation to their football program in their upcoming second season of Nate Horne being their head coach, as his team under a new format made the state playoffs with a four-win campaign in 2022.

Having around 45 players on the roster, Hillsboro has a solid number of players returning to their team, including four of five offensive linemen and three returning running backs who made an impact in a season where the Indians earned a playoff berth.

Last season, the Indians were 4-7 overall and qualified for the Division IV playoffs, where they lost to Tippecanoe, 42-0 in the first round. The Indians were 1-4 in the Frontier Athletic Conference, as the regular season also saw them finish 4-1 in home games at Richards Memorial Field, and they were 0-6 in road games overall.

The ’23 season continues from where the rebuilding of the program left off from ’22 as Horne and his coaching staff are still laying the foundation for a Hillsboro program that last had a season of .500 or better in 2018, a season where the Indians won their lone FAC co-championship.

In ’22 the Indians lost their first two games of the season with losses to Western Brown (55-0) and Goshen (14-7), and their first win of the season came in Week 3 against East Clinton (41-27). That was the start of a three-game winning streak, as Hillsboro defeated Williamsburg (48-41 in overtime) and Clermont Northeastern (31-14).

Four consecutive losses ensued with the start of FAC play with losses to Washington (42-0), Jackson (63-7), Miami Trace (31-14) and Chillicothe (41-27).

Hillsboro ended the regular season with a 42-21 win against Highland County rival McClain in the Rotary Bowl, sealing their bid for a playoff berth. Also in ’22, the Indians totaled 217 points scored, while the team allowed 391 points.

Hillsboro will be replacing one of their top linemen from a season ago (Deegan Bloomfield, who was a Division III All-Ohio selection, to graduation) and will be looking for a new starting quarterback as well, since the two quarterbacks from last season have graduated (Cam Smart) or transferred (Preston Fauber, to Paint Valley).

The new quarterback for the Indians is Mason Dumpert, a sophomore, who switched to the quarterback position last season and played the position on the JV team. Also at quarterback is freshman Collin Swackhamer.

“Mason has come a long way,” Horne said of his quarterback. “He’s been playing quarterback for us during camp.

“Mason, we converted him from running back about midseason last year, and he played JV for us last year some at QB. He has worked hard. The day after basketball season, he started coming in, and we’ve been working ever since, and he has leaps and bounds improved. So I’m super excited about watching him run the option. I think we can be explosive.”

One of the standout players returning from last season is Division III All-Ohio honorable mention selection Austin Barrett, who in Week 4 in 2022, against Williamsburg, set the single-game rushing record for the Indians with 22 carries for 370 yards and also tied the school record with five rushing touchdowns in a single game.

Barrett, who is a senior this season, led Hillsboro with 1,128 yards rushing, and defensively at linebacker totaled 30 solo tackles and had 26 assisted tackles.

Junior Dom Smart finished with 571 yards rushing as a sophomore last season at running back. Jeven Hochstuhl, now a sophomore, totaled 229 yards his freshman season. Hillsboro lost Travis Ross (to graduation) from last season, where he totaled 349 rushing yards.

“Austin was our go-to man last year, and so he’s back, plus Dom and Jeven complement as well,” Horne said of the Indians’ rushing game. “We’ve got some talent in the backfield for sure.”

Ayden Clemons (left guard/ defensive tackle) enters his senior season coming off a junior campaign where he was a part of the offensive line that blocked for the aforementioned 1,000-plus yard rushing season, and defensively he totaled 16 solo tackles and 29 assisted tackles.

Gary Reno (guard/defensive end) enters the ’23 season as a senior, and he’s coming off a ’22 season where on defense he had 23 solo tackles and 24 assisted tackles.

Besides Clemons and Reno, others returning to the offensive line are sophomore Jahari Pitts and senior Ian Lawson.

“With Gary, Ayden, Ian and JP, those guys work well together, and three out of the four wrestled together,” Horne said. “They’re all tough, hard-nosed kids. They’re the core of our team for sure.”

Battling for the right tackle for Hillsboro are junior Ian Fenner, junior Jamar Young and sophomore John Deans.

Receivers returning are Nic Burns, sophomore Zack Brown and senior Jack Wagoner. Burns, now a junior, totaled 214 yards receiving in 2022, leading the Indians in receiving yards.

“We’ve got a good chunk of our team back that wants to hit the ground running,” Horne said of his team. “This is the second year in the offense. We’ve been working hard. Things are looking good.

“Now we can really focus on the little things. It’s not so much about learning the play. Now, it’s about tweaking the timing, and breaking down every little nuance to spacing, and steps, and so forth. That’s been exciting to be able to do that, and so I think we’ve really come a long way in that aspect.”

The defense will mostly have the same players as the Hillsboro offense, with the defensive line having players such as Reno, Clemons, Potts and Fenner, plus Deans and Young.

Barrett returns at linebacker, and Horne said he’s looking to junior Logan Elliott to have a big year on defense for Hillsboro at outside linebacker. Wagoner is slated to play safety for the Indians.

The HHS defense also will have Jason Fox as a new defensive coach this season, and Ben Pence also returns to coach on defense.

“I think as we mature, we played a lot of freshmen last year, I expect the sophomores to stick their nose into things a bit better, be more aggressive, that type of thing,” Horne said about the defense. “That’s the main thing that I’m looking for this year. We have simplified things a little bit so they can play faster and get after it.”

Burns returns as punter for Hillsboro, and at kicker, the job is still up in the air as to who will play that position.

More players listed on the Indians’ 2023 roster are: Malachi Aber, Wesley Bailey, Noah Birkhimer, Kylan Brown, Michael Burns, Jaiden Captain, Carl Carter, Trey Conley, Jack Cornele, Roman Hardy, Aaron Hatter, Luke Holland, Noah Holsinger, Shawn Hottinger, Conner Howland, Landon Jordan, William Mason, Braylon Mayas, James McCoy, Garry McDonald, Kaiden Robbins, Grayden Robinson, Kyle Ross, Andrew Shelton and Dustin Stiffler.

Hillsboro’s first five games for the 2023 season are non-conference contests where they will open the ’23 season with two home games against Western Brown (Aug. 18) and Goshen (Aug. 25), followed by three away games in non-conference action with those being at Portsmouth West (Sept. 1), at Williamsburg (Sept. 8) and at East Clinton (Sept. 15).

In all, Hillsboro will have four straight away games as their first FAC game (Sept. 22) will be played in Ross County against the Chillicothe Cavaliers.

From there the Indians have a three-game homestand in FAC play, as they’ll host Washington (Sept. 29) for homecoming, Jackson (Oct. 6) and Miami Trace (Oct. 13). Hillsboro will close the regular season on Oct. 20 in Week 10 in Greenfield as they will face McClain in the annual Rotary Bowl game, as Hillsboro has defeated McClain seven consecutive seasons.

“The FAC is always a tough football conference. Us and (McClain) are two of the smaller schools. I know Washington Court House is real close, as far as numbers, to us, and (McClain) as far as the number of boys. You’re playing bigger schools, essentially, and schools with good traditions,” Horne said. “It’s always going to be tough, and we look forward to the challenge.

“Jackson is always the team to beat, in my mind, as far as the top team in the conference. We’re always striving to get to that level. Miami Trace has a fairly young team at least skill wise, skilled position wise. I know they have a pretty good sophomore class or maybe freshman class, I’ve heard. Washington Court House has a new coach, and they’ve got athletes. They always do. McClain has their whole backfield back, with (Andrew) Potts and (Kaden) Penwell, so they’ll be tough. There’s no easy games in the conference, that’s for sure. Chillicothe is always going to be Chillicothe, as they are always going to have athletes.”

Horne summed up the preseason by saying the Indians are ready and excited for the regular season.

“We’re just looking forward to playing. We’re looking forward to seeing what we’ve got, looking forward to some of these untested kids as far as Mason and Jamar filling in with some spots that we have left open,” Horne said.

“I’m looking forward to some of our veterans picking it up to the next level. We’re excited about our potential, for sure.”

Hillsboro opens the season at home at Richards Memorial Field on Friday, Aug. 18 against the visiting Western Brown Broncos of the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference at 7 p.m.