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Strong 2nd half leads to Panthers win over Indians 

Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The first half went pretty well for the Hillsboro Indians. They scored 14 points, stood up for their quarterback and were close to the Miami Trace Panthers on the scoreboard.

Then the second half began, and it was all over after that … as the Panthers took advantage of Indian turnovers for a 53-14 win Friday night at Richards Memorial Field.

The Week 9 win by MT puts them at 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the South Central Ohio League standings, with this being their fourth consecutive victory. Hillsboro has dropped their last two games and fall to 1-8 overall and 1-4 in the SCOL.

"I thought we stayed in the fight. We gave up two quick of a touchdown late in the half. We would drive down the field, ran out of timeouts and didn't have a good situation with my quarterback, who couldn't throw the ball because his hand was hurting," HHS head coach Brian Spicer said. "But, even then we scored late in the first half, and we were down by seven. We weren't out of the game at that point."

The Indians ran down their hill (as the marching band played) with great energy at the start of the game. The Indians even gained the momentum early on with Hillsboro senior Chase Gilliland intercepting a Miami Trace pass, with backfield pressure from senior Kaleb West, on the game's third play on the MT 45-yard line with 11:07 left in the opening quarter.

Two plays later, the Indians reached pay dirt on a catch-and-throw totaling 41 yards with senior quarterback Christian Cundiff finding senior tailback Christian Wildey in transition for the score. The PAT by Jarrod Hart gave the Indians a 7-0 lead.  

The Indians kept the momentum going with an onside kick of sorts, which bounced off an MT player and was recovered by HHS freshman Zach Young with 10:25 on the clock at the MT 34-yard line.

The ensuing drive didn't go as planned for HHS with MT's Brantlyn Decker intercepting a pass on the Panthers' 36-yard line on a fourth-and-8 situation.

Seven plays later, the Panthers reached the end zone for the first time when Clayton Dyer pounded the ball for a 1-yard score with 6:21 left in the first quarter. The PAT by Nathan Bowers tied the game at 7-7.

After forcing an HHS punt, the Panthers took the lead on a 10-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a dump pass from Jimmy Stroker to Dyer that went 29 yards for a touchdown. A blocked PAT by Hillsboro's Michael Stuckey put the score at 13-7.

On the first offensive play following the MT score, the Indians fumbled on their own 20-yard line. Three plays later, the Panthers were in the end zone when Stroker ran for four yards with 11:06 left in the second quarter for a 20-7 lead.

Again, on their first play after an MT score, the Indians fumbled and lost the ball, this time on their own 34-yard line. The result for the MT offense was different this time around. Four plays after their turnover, Hillsboro senior David Abernathy scooped up a loose ball on a Panther fumble, racing 24 yards with 9:25 left in the opening half.

Unable to convert the MT turnover into points on the fumble recovery by Abernathy, Wildey intercepted a Panther pass, returning it 11 yard to the MT 11-yard line later in the half. One play later, Cundiff was standing in the end zone for a touchdown. Hart's extra point put HHS within six points (20-14) of tying the game.

Miami Trace added more points to their total with a touchdown with 1:19 left in the second quarter. The two-play drive ended with Stroker completing a short pass to Austin Schoellkopf (who caught the pass in-between two HHS defenders), with the junior wideout taking the ball 49 yards. The converted PAT put MT up 27-14.

With the emotions of the game increasing with each play, it all almost boiled over after Cundiff was knocked into a HHS bench by an MT player while out of bounds. Members of each team got a little heated with one another, forcing the officials and coaches to break up players before things got worse. The scene forced officials to eject players before the half was over.

"Hillsboro came out in the first half, and it was a heck of a ballgame," MT head coach Mike Bernard said. "Defensively, they jumped into some 7-Diamond when they were covering up our entire line. They were not going to let us run the ball.  

"We went to our spread, and I thought Jimmy and the receivers did a nice job in the spread. We got our athletes out in space."

What energy the Indians played with in the first half, went away in the second half, due in large part to turnovers and Miami Trace taking advantage of the turnovers in the third quarter.

"We had too many turnovers in the second half, it's that simple," Spicer said. "How do you win games when you don't have the ball?

"We just saw them go to the robust look and just pound us. I don't think we saw our kids lose the fight until the second half … with everything you are trying and just don't get the chance to do. You think about it, the only way to come back is to have the offense on the field, and they were never on the field in the second half."
 
HHS ran just 21 plays in the second half. Of the 21 plays in the second half, nine were run on their final drive with a majority of the first team on the sideline. For the game, HHS totaled 50 offensive plays.

"It's just frustrating. I don't know how to react to it, I've never seen anything like it," Spicer said of the amount of plays run by the Indians in the second half.

The Indians were putting together a respectable drive on the opening possession of the third quarter, but an interception by Dustin McFadden gave the Panthers the ball, with MT eventually scoring on a 5-yard score by Dyer with 7:05 left in the third. A PAT put MT up 34-14.

Hillsboro turned over the ball on downs at their own 32-yard line, and MT pulled away for good with a touchdown on a second-and-goal on their 1-yard line with Schoellkopf getting the score for a 40-14 lead with 2:37 left in the third.

The Indians fumbled on a run, and MT scored again with 10:47 left in the fourth when Trevor Haines reached the end zone for MT. After another HHS fumble (on the kickoff), MT scored one final time when Austin Dyer scored a touchdown with 9:06 left in the game. MT was unsuccessful on the 2-point conversion attempt, leaving them with a lead of 53-14.

"Give Hillsboro credit … they came out and played hard," Bernard said. "Coach Spicer and his staff did a nice job of preparing their kids because they came out, and it took everything we had to hang on. We are proud of our kids. We overcame the first quarter and played pretty solid after that."

HHS will face their Highland County rival McClain (at MHS) in the final game of the season for the Rotary Bowl next Friday. Both teams enter the game at 1-8 overall, with MHS standing at 0-5 in the SCOL.

MT will face their Fayette County rival Washington (3-2, 4-5) in their season finale.

GAME NOTES: HHS had six turnovers (not including two turnovers on downs) … MT totaled three turnovers … Gilliland had catches of 13 and 10 yards in the second quarter … MT's Cedric Pettiford had receptions of 37 and 19 yards in one drive during the second quarter … Cundiff had rushes of 30 and 21 yards late in the first half … Zach Young had a 10-yard catch in the third quarter … Stroker had a 22-yard run in the third quarter, followed by a 13-yard run … In the middle part of the third, Gilliland caught a 10-yard pass.[[In-content Ad]]

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