Hillsboro football finalizes season with playoff loss to Miami Trace

EBER — For the second time this season, the Hillsboro Indians faced the Miami Trace Panthers on the gridiron, and for the second time the Panthers left with the victory, this time in the Division III, Region 12 OHSAA State Football Playoffs. 

Friday at Miami Trace High School at Tony's Welding and Fabrication Football Field — on Halloween night — the host Panthers used their scary rushing attack along with their intense defense, as they ended the ’25 season of the Indians by a 49-8 score, giving MTHS three consecutive victories against Hillsboro dating back to last season. 

No. 12 seeded Hillsboro ends the ’25 season with a 5-6 overall record, as they were 1-4 in the Frontier Athletic Conference this season.

In their earlier meeting this regular season on Friday, Oct. 3 — at Richards Memorial Field in Hillsboro — the Panthers defeated the Indians, 49-6.

Miami Trace (10-1) forced the Indians to punt on their first possession, and four plays later the home team Panthers were celebrating the first of their seven touchdowns in the game. 

The touchdown-scoring play was a 28-yard rush by junior Julian Baker with 8:31 on the first-quarter clock. The PAT by freshman kicker Cam Thoroman pushed the Panthers’ lead to 7-0. 

Baker unofficially finished the night with 12 carries for 274 yards rushing with six touchdowns. On the six touchdown runs, Baker collected 185 of his rushing yards.

“Miami Trace is a good football team. They have a good offensive line. You don’t get a scholarship to Clemson (lineman Adam Guthrie) for nothing, and (Julian) Baker is a good running back. He finds the open gap, and they are hard to stop, and they (MTHS) were running on all cylinders tonight,” Hillsboro head coach Nathan Horne said. “Hats off to them.”

Hillsboro’s second drive saw a nice rush of 10-plus yards by junior Braylon Mays, and later an 8-yard rush by sophomore Jonathan Malone, but the drive ended when the Panthers intercepted a tipped pass with senior Cooper Enochs making the interception in the first quarter. 

“(Miami Trace) has a really good nose guard that gives you problems, and they just flew around the ball on us,” Horne said. “They beat us in all phases of the game. They have a good team, a lot of seniors, a lot of experience, and it just wasn’t our night.”

Three plays later, the Panthers scored their second touchdown of the first quarter as Baker barreled his way for a 10-yard score to pay dirt with 4:11 left in the first quarter, Thoroman’s PAT was good for a 14-0 advantage. 

The Indians were forced to punt following a three-and-out, and after MTHS started their third drive of the game at the Indians’ 30-yard line, they made the score 21-0 with a 9-yard rush by Baker, his third touchdown of the game with .15 left in the first quarter. Thoroman made his third PAT of the quarter for a 21-0 advantage. 

One of the better plays of the game for Hillsboro was a 32-yard reception by sophomore Landon Holland off a pass from senior quarterback Mason Dumpert, but the drive ended on a fourth-and-14 play with an incomplete pass for a turnover on downs. 

MTHS took over with 9:44 left in the second quarter, and it took them just two plays, including one rush of 25 yards by Baker, followed by a 38-yard run for a touchdown with 9:02 remaining in the second quarter, giving Baker his fourth score of the game. The PAT sailed through the uprights, and the Panthers were pulling away with a 28-point lead. 

After the Indians punted the football, the Panthers were back standing in the endzone on their first play of the ensuing drive as Baker had his fifth touchdown run of the game, this time running 53 yards for the touchdown. Thoroman made the PAT once again for a 35-0 lead. 

Another HHS punt allowed the Panthers to regain possession of the ball in the first half for the sixth time, and two plays is all it took to see Miami Trace back in the endzone, as Baker had his sixth touchdown of the first half, a 47-yard run for six points with 4:00 on the second-quarter clock. Thoroman made the extra-point kick for a 42-0 Miami Trace lead. 

Miami Trace scored their seventh touchdown of the game — and their final score — with .41 seconds left in the second quarter, this time with the rushing score of 78 yards coming from senior Austin Brown. The PAT kick by Thoroman — who was 7-for-7 in the game on extra-point attempts — was good for the 49-0 lead, as that score stood at halftime. 

The Panthers sat their starters in the second half, and for the Indians, they continued to do all they could to overcome the many injuries they suffered over the past month, as many of their starters from the season were unable to play in the final couple weeks of ’25. 

That said, the Indians had some positives on their first drive of the third quarter with junior Malachi Aber having rushes of seven and eight yards on the drive.

Then it was positive yardage in rushes by Mays and Aber, but unfortunately for the Indians, they had a turnover on downs. 

Miami Trace fumbled the ball on the ensuing drive, which was recovered by sophomore Kingston Scott with 2:10 left in the third, as the clock was a running clock since MTHS held at least a 30-point lead in the second half. 

Hillsboro scored their final touchdown of the ’25 season as Malone rushed for a 5-yard score with .35 left in the third. The score was set up one play earlier as Malone had a rush of 17 yards to make it first-and-goal.

From there, following a MTHS turnover on downs, the Indians had runs of 3, 5 and 15 yards by Malone, but the Indians turned over the ball on a fumble that was recovered by MTHS freshman Elliott Hatton with 5:40 left in the game. 

Neither team reached the endzone for the rest of the game, leaving the Panthers with the 41-point win over the Indians. 

Tackles made by the Indians include: Mays (7), Landon Jordan (1), Landon Holland (3), Shawn Hottinger (1), Aber (4), John Deans (2), Scott (2), Malone (1), JaHari Pitts (3), Kaiden Robbins (1) and Roman Hardy (1).

Seniors for Hillsboro’s 2025 team are Mason Dumpert, Jack Cornele, Zack Brown, Landon Jordan, Shawn Hottinger, Foster Britton, John Deans, Cooper Swope and JaHari Pitts. 

“I appreciate all the effort they have given,” Horne said. “They were the first class here when I first got here as head coach, and I’ve seen them all the way through. For all the effort they have given in four years, I appreciate all that they did.”

Hillsboro’s wins in ’25 were against: Western Brown (34-22), Goshen (41-25), Portsmouth West (49-34), Ponitz Career Tech School (50-14) and McClain (35-34). 

This is the 11th time the Indians have made the state football playoffs, and since the expansion of the playoffs in 2020 the Indians have qualified for the playoffs four times, as the program is still in pursuit of their first-ever playoff victory.

With the win, Miami Trace will play in the Division III Region 12 Quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 7 at Alumni Stadium with the No. 5 seeded Panthers (10-1) facing the No. 4 seeded Jackson Ironmen (8-2) at 7 p.m.

BOX SCORE
HHS           00 00 08 00 — 08
MTHS        21 28 00 00 — 49