Hillsboro earns shutout wins over McClain, Western Brown

The start of the week for the Hillsboro Indians has been one of scoring many goals, while also playing stout defense, as they’ve shut out both the Western Brown Broncos and the McClain Tigers on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. 

On Monday evening at WBHS, the Indians defeated Western Brown, 7-0 with five goals in the first half and two goals in the second half. 

Ryan Howland led the way for the Indians with a hat trick, scoring three goals, plus he added two assists. 

HHS also had two goals from Tate Davis, and scoring one goal each were Easton Inman and Austin Bledsoe. 

Gaining assists were Wesley Bailey with three and Jacob Seaman with one. 

At goal for the Indians were Ryan Fender with three saves and Davis with four. 

The following night at Hillsboro High School, the Indians defeated their Frontier Athletic Conference rival, the McClain Tigers, by an 8-0 score. 

The Tuesday victory included the Indians leading 5-0 at halftime, and they added three more goals in the second half. 

Two of the second-half goals were first-time goals, with those players scoring being juniors Mathias Hostetler and Dylan Bender. 

“This was our seventh win and now we are 7-1, so obviously I can't be much more happy than that. It's a fun bunch of guys to coach,” HHS head coach Ben Howland said. “We've got six seniors and six juniors and sophomores and freshmen, and they just get along well, and it's fun to coach them. It's fun to go to practice. It's even more fun to come out play and get wins, so it's a rewarding time.”

Bailey had a hat trick with three goals, while Davis totaled two goals and Bledsoe had one goal versus McClain. Bailey also collected two assists. Howland had three assists, and with one assist each were Ryan Fender, Cooper Swope and Davis. 

At goal for the Indians, Fender totaled four saves and Davis had one save in the second half. 

Hillsboro’s two wins improve them to 3-1-0 in the FAC, second place in the standings. Overall, the Indians have a record of 7-1-0. McClain falls to 0-3-0 in the FAC and 2-5-0 overall. 

Next for Hillsboro is an FAC game against first-place Chillicothe on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Chillicothe with a 6:45 p.m. start. 

“This is a big week, obviously. Four games in a week's hard,” Howland said. “We have a big game Thursday, against Chillicothe. We lost to them earlier (5-1 on Aug. 27), and you can't win the conference without beating them Thursday, so it's a big game.”

BOX SCORE
HHS at WBHS
HHS    5 2 — 7
WBHS    0 0 — 0

BOX SCORE
HHS vs. MHS
MHS    0 0 — 0 
HHS    5 3 — 8

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 25 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.