Hillsboro Indians suffer ‘frustrating’ loss to West Senators

HILLSBORO — For the Portsmouth West Senators, an inadvertent whistle by the four-man officiating crew went to their liking. On the other side of the field, for the Hillsboro Indians, the same roaring sound from the official’s whistle ruined a big, momentum-changing moment that swayed what could have been a possible Indians lead to a continuation of a drive that resulted into a turnover on downs late in the fourth quarter. 

The Indians hosted the West Senators (1-2) in Week 3 on Friday night, and though there were more plays causing the 27-21 final score at Richards Memorial Field, the one that will be remembered the most from the non-conference Week 3 game came with around 5:45 left in the fourth quarter. 

HHS (1-2) had possession of the ball back in their own territory, but a play where quarterback Mason Dumpert faked a handoff to fullback Dom Smart, who barreled his way into the middle of the the offensive line — a style of play the Indians used many plays in the game — saw Dumpert take the ball and rush away with it downfield, untouched, with not a player around him. 

As Dumpert was racing toward the end zone all alone, an official’s whistle sounded throughout Richards Memorial Field, causing the play to stop cold, and no points were to be scored by the Indians. 

“We saw them that they were big. We didn't execute on offensively in any kind of consistency. That’s why we lost,” HHS head coach Nathan Horne said. “We had some kids play hard. A lot of guys played hard. I’m proud of how they fought. We fought to the very last second. That's a tough one. 

“The sad thing is they always ask about trick plays and different things like that before the games, the refs do. That's part of the game. I had it happen to me in high school once. It’s very frustrating. It really is frustrating. Nothing you can do after he blows a whistle. He’s running down the sidelines. That puts us tied, if he scored. There's nobody around him. If we kick the PAT, we’re up by one. But you know, if we don't get a break down there on the one-yard line where they fumble and they don't punch it in there … that's what it is. You get some breaks, and sometimes you don't get breaks. It’s part of the game.”

After the four-man officiating crew huddled — as there are usually six officials to a high school varsity crew — they put the ball at the 40-yard line of the Indians for a first down. Though the Indians reached West territory after Dumpert had another big run of 18 yards, the drive eventually ended on the West 44-yard line for a turnover on downs by HHS with 3:18 left in the game. 

“We run that dive, and so we run a midline play. Should have called it earlier. We're trying to get around 65 (Kade Woods), trying to double him and things,” Horne said. “I thought, well, you know, why don't we just read him? Right? So we ran in line right at him, reading him. So he's a crasher. He's going to come down like, you know what, and so Dumpert pulled the ball from the fullback. He crashes on the fullback and runs up the sidelines. They (the officials) called it, they blow the whistle, thinking the fullback’s got it.”

Before the chaos of the fourth quarter, Hillsboro was first to strike in the end zone on the first drive of the game where HHS starting from their own 40-yard line put together a drive that went for 60 yards on nine plays as the offensive line opened lanes for the ball carriers of the Indians, starting with Jeven Hochstuhl starting the game with a 12-yard rush, followed by Dom Smart powering his way to an 11-yard gain. Smart followed with runs of five and four yards. Later in the drive, the Indians used Smart again with a 20-yard rush, followed with a 2-yard gain. 

Hochstuhl continued the drive with a 2-yard carry on a sweep play, and on third-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Smart powered his way to the end zone for six points with 8:13 left in the quarter. Wesley Bailey kicked the PAT through the uprights, leaving the Indians ahead, 7-0. Smart finished the game with 16 carries for 70 yards and two touchdowns.

“We drove right down the field that first drive. We just couldn't repeat that same success. They stayed in the same front the whole time. I don't know. Maybe they just learned how to play us, I guess, after that first drive as far as our technique individually,” Horne said. “But they were in the same front most of the night. We try to run away from (Woods), he chases down. He was all-state as a sophomore. You don't get all-state as a sophomore for nothing.”

All was going good for Hillsboro as they forced a three-and-out on defense, and though the Indians had a miscue on their ensuing punt after a three-and-out of their own, they still held a seven-point lead with 4:22 left in the first quarter. 

Unfortunately, things changed with the momentum during the raining first half — the game had a 50-minute delay before kickoff at 7:50 p.m. — as the Senators began to use their massive offensive line to their advantage, switching to all runs in their drive, taking them from their own 46-yard line to the end zone in 11 plays. 

The Senators scored their first touchdown of the game with 8.0 left in the first with a 3-yard run on 3rd-and-goal by Mason Parker. Parker then ran in a two-point conversion for an 8-7 PWHS lead. 

On the ensuing drive, the Indians lost possession of the ball on the first play with Bo Wroten recovering the fumble on the HHS 24-yard line. It took just three plays for West add to their lead with a 19-yard touchdown run by Parker with 10:44 remaining in the second quarter. The 2-point run failed, leaving West ahead 14-7. 

Both offenses stalled in the second quarter, as the Indians lost a second fumble, with Wroten receiving the ball again, on the West 36-yard line with 6:34 left in the second. This turnover resulted in more points for the visiting Senators, taking four plays, as the final play was a 51-yard run for a touchdown by Parker — his third of the game — with 5:07 left in the second. Drew Dettwiller kicked the PAT through the uprights, leaving the Senators in front 21-7.

Nic Burns of Hillsboro gave the Indians great field position, returning a kickoff for around a 70-yard return, all the way to the West 16-yard line. On the first play from the line of scrimmage, Smart raced 16 yards for a touchdown with 4:53 left in the quarter. Bailey connected for the PAT, leaving the Indians down just one score at 21-14. 

With the same 21-14 score standing at halftime, the game turned into a defensive struggle in the third as both teams forced punts, but then came the first big moment of the game where the officials had to discuss a touchdown as one said the run was short, while another raised two arms into the air for the touchdown call. 

After a huddle by the officials, the ruling on the field was that on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Parker got the ball to break the plane of the end zone before being down, giving the Senators a 27-14 lead with 3:02 left in the third. After the head official gave Coach Horne an explanation of the ruling, the Senators went for a 2-point run, but it failed. 

The Indians got back into the game and added to the scoring, having a three-play drive that began on their own 27-yard line with 2:55 left in the third, on the third play a mid-field pass from Dumpert to Hochstuhl that saw Hochstuhl use his athleticism to maneuver past the defense, then outrun the Senators all the way to the end zone for six points and a 73-yard touchdown. The PAT was good by Bailey, putting the Indians down one score at 27-21 with 1:14 left in the third. 

Dumpert was 3-of-5 passing for 86 yards and a touchdown for the game, plus he added five carries for 28 yards rushing. Hochstuhl finished with seven carries for 20 yards rushing, plus added two receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown.

West put together another long drive of chipping away at the defense of the Indians, getting to second-and-goal from the 1-yard line, but the Indians had a defensive stand where Landon Jordan knocked the football loose, and Captain recovered the fumble, keeping PWHS out of the end zone and giving the HHS offense back the ball with 5:53 left in the game. 

Then came the aforementioned play of the inadvertent play, and neither team added points as time expired, as the Indians had final possession with 25 seconds left in the game. HHS had a couple attempts to score points, but time ran out, and after they were stopped on an untimed down, the Senators secured their first win of the ’24 season. 

For the game, the Indians totaled 212 yards on offense, with 126 yards rushing as a team and 86 yards passing. 

“We weren't clicking,”Horne said. “A few new faces here and there, with some injuries and stuff. All those types of things have some timing issues, wet ball, whatever. They had some fumbles. We had some fumbles. That's what happens on a rainy night.

“Turnovers kept us in the game. They have a great running game. Hats off to them. I mean, (Mason Parker), he runs at a low pad level. He’s the best running back we've faced so far this year, by far. They’ve played some tough teams. It’s hard to judge how good or how not good they are. He hurt us last year, so we knew he was good. We knew (Woods) was good. We knew we were in for a game, you know, despite what they had done two weeks prior.”

Both the Indians and Senators are now 1-2 overall. 

Next for Hillsboro is a non-conference game in Week 4 as they are scheduled to host the Williamsburg Wildcats (2-1) at 7 p.m. at Richards Memorial Field. 

GAMES NOTES: Nic Burns had one carry for 14 yards and one catch for 16 yards, plus he had seven solo tackles … Ryan Burns finished with 11 tackles (nine solo) … Zack Brown totaled eight tackles (five solo) … Collin Swackhammer finished with 10 tackles (five solo) … Jaiden Captain had six tackles (five solo) … JaHari Pitts totaled six tackles (four solo) … Jordan Lowe had two tackles (one solo) … John Deans finished with five tackles (three solo) … Tre Captain had four tackles (three solo) and a fumble recovery … Hochstuhl had four solo tackles … Smart ended with three tackles (two solo). 

BOX SCORE
PWHS    08 13 00 06 — 27
HHS        07 07 07 00 — 21

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