2016 Hillsboro Football Preview: Indians looking for more success in new era
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Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Hillsboro Indians are changing the look and face of their program once again this season, adding a new head coach and having to replace some key players from last season’s starting lineup as they look to improve in 2016.
Hillsboro won three games last season, with two of those wins coming in South Central Ohio League play, but this year they have a new leader in head coach Jack O’Rourke, who comes to the Indians from Blanchester, whom he coached the past seven seasons.
O’Rourke replaces Matt Hodge (three seasons with the Indians), who resigned this past spring, but for the Indians, with this being their final year in the SCOL, they’re looking to jump up from their 3-7 record the past two seasons.
In the past five seasons, the Indians football program is a combined 9-41.
“We were able to go out there and execute our offense and defense fairly well, considering the amount of time we’ve had to put into it,” O’Rourke said following a scrimmage vs. Unioto. “It’s quite a change for the team with what we’re doing. I think we’re doing pretty well and teaching what we need to teach, but we’ll get the film and see that when we get in there.
“The attitude’s been really good. They’ve been really willing to learn and listen, and the team is buying into the system that we’re trying to do right now.”
Hunter Chain returns for a Hillsboro team that lost a number of talented players, but Chain, who is a senior this season, finished last season with 41 tackles as a defensive back and three interceptions, with all of the interceptions coming in the loss to Western Brown. He was also the starting quarterback for HHS last season.
Others on the offense will include running backs Brian Smith and Josh Keets and fullback Deon Burns. Also providing to the offense will be Luke Gallimore, Mason Swayne and Reece Bloomfield.
“Hunter Chain is still our quarterback,” O’Rourke said. “He is doing a good job being a leader out there. Brian Smith is one of our running backs, and he’s what we call our H-back right now, a split between a running back and wide receiver. Deon Burns is our fullback, and he’s a load. When he gets that body moving, he’s hard to stop.
“Josh Keets is doing a nice job, and Luke Gallimore is very, very fast, so he gives us a presence on the perimeter, and Mason Swayne has also run some halfback.”
As for the receivers, O’Rourke has been pleased with them as a group.
“As a group right now, they’re doing a very nice job, but we’ve got to work on our blocking,” the HHS head coach said. “Our stop blocking wasn’t very good at times during the first scrimmage, but Reece Bloomfield caught a couple of nice passes.
“We’ve been catching the ball pretty well in practice, but again, it’s more the blocking aspect of it that we have to get better at, and if we do that, then I think our offense will really start to hum.”
Speaking of blocking, the expectations for the Hillsboro offensive line are great as well, because without the line being on point, the rest of the offense won’t be able to run as smoothly as they want.
“The offensive line is doing very well right now. We made some huge holes against Unioto in the scrimmage,” O’Rourke said. “Jared Conn’s been playing center and doing a nice job leading it out front and making the calls up front.
“Gary Vincent is right tackle, and he’s been doing a nice job out there. He’s kind of the leader of the offensive line. Austin Miller’s been playing guard, and Deegan Boris has been playing guard for us also. Then RJ Swackhamer has been doing a nice job at tackle.”
As usual, the Indians open the season against Western Brown of the Southern Buckeye Conference, a team the Indians last defeated in 2010 (35-34). To start the ’15 campaign, the Indians lost to Western Brown, 40-0, and lost their Week 2 non-league game to the Goshen, 27-7.
Hillsboro gained their first win of the season during a Week 3 contest at Clermont Northeastern by a 40-6 score. Hillsboro’s other two wins came at East Clinton, 18-7, and at Richards Memorial Field over the Miami Trace Panthers, 35-30, giving the Indians their first win over Miami Trace in over two decades.
Looking back at the ’15 season, Ryan Hagan and Heith Brown (both of whom were seniors last year) were selected as first-team All-SCOL players, while Chain (a senior this season) and Lane Hester (a senior in ’15) were second-team selections.
Also for the Indians, JJ Goldick and Hagan were selected as members of the Associated Press SE All-District team, with Hagan named first-team and Goldick as a special mention, who was also a senior last year. Hagan was also named Division III All-Ohio for HHS last season as a special mention.
HHS lost all but Chain from the group, and in losing Hagan to graduation, the Indians lose a player who totaled 35 receptions for 714 yards and eight total touchdowns. Brown, who also graduated, finished last season with 801 yards on 145 carries and six touchdowns.
Replacing those players, the defense of the Indians will need to take another step from where the team was last season.
“We’ve been doing a nice job being able to change up fronts and so on. I thought the kids hit pretty well (during scrimmages) and made some pretty good open field tackles,” O’Rourke said. “We need to work on our secondary play a little bit, but I think overall, they did pretty well.
“Our linebackers are Vincent and Miller, and on the interior, Swackhamer and Laith Maxwell have been doing a nice job out there also, and outside linebackers have been Keets and Smith, but right now we just don’t have a lot of depth.”
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Building a new program from a team that has had nine wins in the past five seasons takes time, but don’t think there still aren’t expectations this team to achieve this season.
“Our expectation is to go out there and try to put together a winning season. You just try to get better every week and play as a team,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t know that we’ve got that one outstanding individual that stands out, but we have a lot of good athletes playing football for us right now. It’s a matter of developing some of the younger talent and getting them to gel with the juniors and seniors.
“We’ve got quite a few sophomores playing out there. That’s probably the biggest thing right now. I think the biggest thing for us is continuing to improve, because I think every week, if we continue to improve on our offensive and defensive skills, we’ll become a much better football team. We need to stay healthy, and we need to continue to work on taking care of ourselves, being smart with the contact we have and still getting more and more aggressive.”
Hillsboro won three games last season, with two of those wins coming in South Central Ohio League play, but this year they have a new leader in head coach Jack O’Rourke, who comes to the Indians from Blanchester, whom he coached the past seven seasons.
O’Rourke replaces Matt Hodge (three seasons with the Indians), who resigned this past spring, but for the Indians, with this being their final year in the SCOL, they’re looking to jump up from their 3-7 record the past two seasons.
In the past five seasons, the Indians football program is a combined 9-41.
“We were able to go out there and execute our offense and defense fairly well, considering the amount of time we’ve had to put into it,” O’Rourke said following a scrimmage vs. Unioto. “It’s quite a change for the team with what we’re doing. I think we’re doing pretty well and teaching what we need to teach, but we’ll get the film and see that when we get in there.
“The attitude’s been really good. They’ve been really willing to learn and listen, and the team is buying into the system that we’re trying to do right now.”
Hunter Chain returns for a Hillsboro team that lost a number of talented players, but Chain, who is a senior this season, finished last season with 41 tackles as a defensive back and three interceptions, with all of the interceptions coming in the loss to Western Brown. He was also the starting quarterback for HHS last season.
Others on the offense will include running backs Brian Smith and Josh Keets and fullback Deon Burns. Also providing to the offense will be Luke Gallimore, Mason Swayne and Reece Bloomfield.
“Hunter Chain is still our quarterback,” O’Rourke said. “He is doing a good job being a leader out there. Brian Smith is one of our running backs, and he’s what we call our H-back right now, a split between a running back and wide receiver. Deon Burns is our fullback, and he’s a load. When he gets that body moving, he’s hard to stop.
“Josh Keets is doing a nice job, and Luke Gallimore is very, very fast, so he gives us a presence on the perimeter, and Mason Swayne has also run some halfback.”
As for the receivers, O’Rourke has been pleased with them as a group.
“As a group right now, they’re doing a very nice job, but we’ve got to work on our blocking,” the HHS head coach said. “Our stop blocking wasn’t very good at times during the first scrimmage, but Reece Bloomfield caught a couple of nice passes.
“We’ve been catching the ball pretty well in practice, but again, it’s more the blocking aspect of it that we have to get better at, and if we do that, then I think our offense will really start to hum.”
Speaking of blocking, the expectations for the Hillsboro offensive line are great as well, because without the line being on point, the rest of the offense won’t be able to run as smoothly as they want.
“The offensive line is doing very well right now. We made some huge holes against Unioto in the scrimmage,” O’Rourke said. “Jared Conn’s been playing center and doing a nice job leading it out front and making the calls up front.
“Gary Vincent is right tackle, and he’s been doing a nice job out there. He’s kind of the leader of the offensive line. Austin Miller’s been playing guard, and Deegan Boris has been playing guard for us also. Then RJ Swackhamer has been doing a nice job at tackle.”
As usual, the Indians open the season against Western Brown of the Southern Buckeye Conference, a team the Indians last defeated in 2010 (35-34). To start the ’15 campaign, the Indians lost to Western Brown, 40-0, and lost their Week 2 non-league game to the Goshen, 27-7.
Hillsboro gained their first win of the season during a Week 3 contest at Clermont Northeastern by a 40-6 score. Hillsboro’s other two wins came at East Clinton, 18-7, and at Richards Memorial Field over the Miami Trace Panthers, 35-30, giving the Indians their first win over Miami Trace in over two decades.
Looking back at the ’15 season, Ryan Hagan and Heith Brown (both of whom were seniors last year) were selected as first-team All-SCOL players, while Chain (a senior this season) and Lane Hester (a senior in ’15) were second-team selections.
Also for the Indians, JJ Goldick and Hagan were selected as members of the Associated Press SE All-District team, with Hagan named first-team and Goldick as a special mention, who was also a senior last year. Hagan was also named Division III All-Ohio for HHS last season as a special mention.
HHS lost all but Chain from the group, and in losing Hagan to graduation, the Indians lose a player who totaled 35 receptions for 714 yards and eight total touchdowns. Brown, who also graduated, finished last season with 801 yards on 145 carries and six touchdowns.
Replacing those players, the defense of the Indians will need to take another step from where the team was last season.
“We’ve been doing a nice job being able to change up fronts and so on. I thought the kids hit pretty well (during scrimmages) and made some pretty good open field tackles,” O’Rourke said. “We need to work on our secondary play a little bit, but I think overall, they did pretty well.
“Our linebackers are Vincent and Miller, and on the interior, Swackhamer and Laith Maxwell have been doing a nice job out there also, and outside linebackers have been Keets and Smith, but right now we just don’t have a lot of depth.”
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Building a new program from a team that has had nine wins in the past five seasons takes time, but don’t think there still aren’t expectations this team to achieve this season.
“Our expectation is to go out there and try to put together a winning season. You just try to get better every week and play as a team,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t know that we’ve got that one outstanding individual that stands out, but we have a lot of good athletes playing football for us right now. It’s a matter of developing some of the younger talent and getting them to gel with the juniors and seniors.
“We’ve got quite a few sophomores playing out there. That’s probably the biggest thing right now. I think the biggest thing for us is continuing to improve, because I think every week, if we continue to improve on our offensive and defensive skills, we’ll become a much better football team. We need to stay healthy, and we need to continue to work on taking care of ourselves, being smart with the contact we have and still getting more and more aggressive.”