Tribe falls to Blue Lions

WASHINGTON C.H. - The victory bell was ringing loudly, and for the first time, Tuesday night at Gardner Park, as one goal wasn¹t enough for the Hillsboro Indians to gain the road win, with the Washington Blue Lions scoring two late goals en route to their first win of the season, defeating the Tribe 3-1 for their first win of the season.

"Last week we played a game well, but we didn¹t win," Washington coach Aaron Teeter said. "We continued to work hard (Tuesday) and we got the win."

The lone Hillsboro goal came in the first half with 9:30 remaining as senior Austin Lowe scored off an assist from senior Seth Darbyshire for the early 1-0 advantage. 

Washington tied the game at 1-1 with a goal from Eric Phillips at the 7:53 mark of the first half. The assist was credited to Luke Mesker. 

With the second half starting off tied at 1-1, Washington waited until the final minutes to propel themselves to the lead. 

At the 13:08 mark of the second half Washington¹s Grant Hannah blasted a goal off a corner kick from Phillips for the 2-1 lead. 

Phillips sealed the win with a goal with 24.5 seconds remaining. 

Washington played most of the game without starting keeper Scott Rush after he suffered an injury in the first half. Dillon Justice, usually a striker, replaced Rush at the keeper position. 

"Overall, our entire defense did a good job," Teeter said. "Hillsboro is a physical team."

As for the Indians, assistant coach John Weber was pleased with the way the Indians hustled for the entire game. 

"We had the ball near their goal for over half the game, but we couldn¹t capitalize and put the ball in the back of the net," Weber said. "They guys are upset over two of the goals scored and we made simple mistakes.

"We played hard. We outshot them 3-to-1, but Washington played a heck of a game and they were physical. I was happy with the play of Jordan O¹Conner. He and they rest of our defense had an excellent game.:

Washington improves to 1-7-1 (1-5-1) with the win.

HHS will host Clinton-Massie Thursday at 7:30 p.m.