Hillsboro loses against Blue Lions

WASHINGTON C.H. — Composure from both sides was a factor on Friday night in Week 8, as there were many personal foul penalties, miscues on defense, big yardage plays allowed, and even a moment when police were on the field to stop potential issues between the two rival conference foes.

Once all the dust settled, the taunting stopped and tempers calmed down — on and off the field— it was the Washington Blue Lions gaining their second win of the season, defeating the Hillsboro Indians, 50-30 in Frontier Athletic Conference action.

In all, unofficially, there were nine total flags thrown for just personal fouls in the game (including one ejection), with Washington having five and Hillsboro with four, though one on each side was offsetting as the personal fouls were called on the same play.

“We need to keep our composure in those types of situations,” Hillsboro head coach Nathan Horne said. “It was a little chippy game. You’ve got to be the better man.

“We lost our composure here and there, and it cost us.”

The game played at Gardner Park — which was also the Blue Lions’ homecoming game — saw the Indians shut out in the first quarter as the Blue Lions led 8-0 following the first play of the game, and that score stood when the scoreboard hit all zeroes after the quarter was complete.

Washington (2-1, 2-6) had the ball first in the opening quarter, and they took the ball 85 yards to pay dirt on the very first play from scrimmage Friday night with sophomore Aden Osborne racing to the end zone for six points with 11:39 on the clock. Osborne then scored on the two-point conversion attempt, leaving Washington ahead 8-0.

Four plays later, the Indians (1-2, 3-5) had a turnover, fumbling the football, which was recovered by the Blue Lions with 9:25 left in the first quarter.

Eventually the Indians forced a punt, and following a big kickoff return by Tre Captain, the Indians started their first scoring drive of the game on the Washington 31-yard line.

The first play saw Jeven Hochstuhl run for a gain of 14 yards, and after some small yardage gains on runs by Ryan Burns, Captain and Hochstuhl, the Indians had a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line where Burns battled his way to the end zone for six points with 3:21 left in the second quarter.

The ensuing PAT attempt didn’t happen as the snap sailed over the head of the kicker, leaving the score 8-6 in favor of Washington.

Washington added eight more points before halftime, starting the drive on their own 36-yard line. The first play of the drive saw the Blue Lions gain 56 yards on a run by Osborne, and he rushed past the defense and down the sideline for a first-and-goal opportunity.

Washington scored two plays later on second-and-goal as junior Drew Young ran four yards into the end zone with 1:44 left in the second quarter. The two-point conversion attempt was good as Gavin Coffman passed to Matt Colflesh for the score, putting Washington ahead 16-6, as that score stayed when halftime arrived.

Hillsboro punted on their first drive of the third quarter, and the Indians’ defense came back by forcing a fumble, with Shawn Hottinger recovering the football.

The Indians took advantage of the Washington turnover, because the Indians scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, with quarterback Mason Dumpert rushing two yards on second-and-goal for the touchdown with 6:10 left in the third. Dumpert passed to Captain, converting the two-point play, leaving the Indians down by only two points at 16-14.

Washington responded by eventually reaching the end zone for a third time in the game. On this drive, there was an 11-yard pass from Coffman to Osborne on the first play, later followed by a 10-yard run by Coffman, a play that also included the offsetting personal fouls, that put the Blue Lions on the HHS 34-yard line for a third down play.

From there, Washington had a 5-yard gain, then on fourth down, Washington had Coffman find Osborne for a 26-yard completion, taking the ball from the 33-yard line to the 7-yard line. On first-and-goal, it was Osborne rushing for the 7-yard score with 3:02 left in the third. The two-point conversion was no good, leaving Washington in front by a 22-14 score.

Hillsboro didn’t break; rather, they rallied following a solid kickoff return by Hochstuhl, who took the ball to the Blue Lion 33-yard line.

From there, the Indians had a 6-yard run by Captain, then another 7-yard rush also by Captain for a first-and-10 play from the 19-yard line. The Indians had some luck on their side as a Hochstuhl fumble on a pitch bounced right back to the running back, and Hochstuhl raced the ball 19 yards to the end zone for six points with 2:15 left in the third quarter. Zack Brown ran the ball to pay dirt on the two-point conversion play, tying the score at 22.

Washington took four plays to regain the lead, as gains of four, 35 and two yards put the Blue Lions on a second-and-8 play from the HHS 34-yard line. As time expired in the third, Washington was back in the end zone with Isaac Hood — who was also crowned homecoming king before the game — racing 34 yards untouched for a touchdown. Osborne ran the ball for the two-point conversion, leaving the home team ahead 30-22 after three quarters.

The Indians had another very good kickoff return by Brown to start the fourth quarter, and two plays later, with the Indians having a second-and-7 play from the Washington 36-yard line, Captain raced 36 yards for the touchdown with 11:20 left in regulation. Hochstuhl scored two points on the conversion attempt, leaving the score tied at 30-30.

From that point on, the momentum shifted to the Blue Lions, who outscored the Indians 20-0 for the remainder of the game. Washington scored with 9:38 left in the fourth as a pass from Coffman to Osborne went 43 yards for a touchdown, with Osborne breaking away from two tackle attempts. The two-point conversion was no good, leaving Washington ahead at 36-30.

On the ensuing drive by Hillsboro, they had a first down, but got to a fourth-and-12 situation on the Washington 40-yard line. They were forced to a turnover on downs, but an unsportsmanlike penalty on a dead ball left Washington on their own 35-yard line to start the next drive.

The drive began with the Blue Lions having another personal foul as their sideline had one called on them, but a 28-yard run by Young, followed by the Indians having a 15-yard personal foul penalty called on them (as police were on the field to keep the situation calm), eventually led to the Blue Lions taking a 14-point lead. WHS scored on a Coffman pass to Osborne on third-and-5 from the 9-yard line with 4:17 left in the game. The PAT run by Hood put the home team ahead 44-30.

Washington’s final touchdown was scored with 42 seconds left in the game off a 3-yard run by Osborne. The PAT was no good, as the scoreboard reached its final destination at 50-30.

Captain led the Indians with 13 carries for 120 yards and one touchdown. Hochstuhl finished with 12 carries for 101 yards and one touchdown, plus he had one catch for 14 yards.

Logan Elliott totaled nine carries for 41 yards, and Burns had 10 carries for 40 yards and one touchdown.

As a team, the Indians totaled 307 yards rushing and 14 yards passing for a total of 321 yards of offense.

Next for the Blue Lions is a home game Friday, Oct. 18 against the McClain Tigers (0-3, 1-7) at 7 p.m.

Hillsboro is scheduled for their Week 9 game against the Jackson Ironmen (3-0, 6-2) at JHS with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

GAME NOTES: Total tackles for HHS included: Elliott (nine), Collin Swackhamer (six), Brown (four), John Deans (four), Hottinger (four), Malachi Aber (three), Landon Jordan (two), Ryan Burns (two), Michael Burns (two), Jaiden Captain (two), Hochstuhl (one), Tre Captain (one), JaHari Pitts (one) and Jordan Lowe (one) … HHS had Deans and Captain each force a fumble.

BOX SCORE
HHS    00 06 16 08 — 30
WCH    08 08 14 20 — 50

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