Hillsboro struggles in 2nd half; falls to MT Panthers

EBER — As solid of a first half the Hillsboro Indians had against the Miami Trace Panthers where they played nearly even on the scoreboard in the first two quarters, that couldn’t be said for the final two quarters. The Panthers took advantage of the Indians’ miscues, leading to a 44-27 loss Saturday morning at MTHS.

The Indians (0-1, 2-4) trailed by only three points at halftime at 17-14, but in the second half they were outscored 27-13, leading to the Indians’ fourth loss of the season and their first in Frontier Athletic Conference play, as this was the conference opener.

“I thought we held up pretty good defensively until the end when the game was kind of out of hand, and the kids didn’t quite hold up as well as they did early in the game, but overall I thought our defense played pretty well,”HHS head coach Nathan Horne said. “We had a couple interceptions, and our defense played pretty well today.”

Playing on Saturday after the game was postponed on Friday night due to inclement weather, the Panthers (1-0, 5-1) had to alter their homecoming plans. With a 10 a.m. kickoff, there were fewer fans in attendance than at a usual homecoming game, but the two teams still competed, with Miami Trace wasting no time putting a number on the scoreboard.

On the second play of the game, Miami Trace’s Cooper Enochs raced 56 yards for a touchdown with 11:13 on the clock in the opening quarter on a second-and-1 play from the Panther 44-yard line. The PAT by Levi Morrison was good, putting the Panthers ahead 7-0.

The Indians answered the scoring drive by Miami Trace with a scoring drive of their own with their first possession of the FAC opener. On the eight-play drive, the Indians had a second down run by Ryan Burns that resulted in the fullback racing for a gain of 23 yards, taking the ball to the Miami Trace 38-yard line.

From there the, Indians had a third down play that was called back following a rush of what could have been a 30-yard gain by Logan Elliott, but the Indians regrouped and two plays later saw Collin Swackhamer rush for a 17-yard gain on first down, setting up a first-and-goal play from the 8-yard line.

The next play saw Burns rush for an 8-yard touchdown, reaching pay dirt for the six points with 8:03 left in the first quarter. Wesley Bailey’s PAT for the Indians was good, putting the Indians tied with the Panthers at 7-7.

The defense of the Indians forced an MT punt with 5:35 left in the first quarter, and the offense took full advantage, even after gaining possession of the ball on their own 17-yard line.

The drive started with a short rush by Swackhamer, followed by an 18-yard rush by Elliott. Next, Burns and Swackhamer got the Indians to a third-and-3 down on the MT 43-yard line, and that’s where the Indians took the lead.

On that play, HHS quarterback Mason Dumpert took the ball on a 57-yard journey down the side line of the Panthers to the end zone, scoring the second Indians touchdown of the first quarter with 3:35 left on the scoreboard at Miami Trace. Bailey’s PAT was good for a 14-7 Hillsboro lead.

Hillsboro’s lead didn’t last long as Miami Trace rebounded with a 65-yard scoring drive of their own, starting on their own 35-yard line and eventually landing in the end zone on a third-and-2 play as MT quarterback Trey Robinette found Enochs for a 24-yard touchdown reception with 1:51 still remaining in the first quarter. Morrison’s PAT was good, tying the score at 14-14.

On the ensuing drive for Hillsboro, they threatened to add points as Dumpert had a 15-yard run, and Elliott rushed for a 31-yard gain for a first down. Elliott had a touchdown run of 14 yards called back due to an illegal motion penalty, but HHS came back with a 10-yard completion from Dumpert to Zack Brown on a screen pass. Hillsboro went for a field goal attempt of 22 yards, but the Panthers blocked the attempt with 8:24 left in the second quarter.

As the second quarter continued, the Indians had a big moment from Nic Burns as the senior grabbed the first of his two interceptions, with the cornerback making the INT with under 1:30 left in the first half.

The momentum didn’t last long as the Panthers had an interception of their own on defense, as Evan Colegrove trapped the Indians’ pass out of the air with 1:28 left in the second quarter. Miami Trace capitalized on the turnover as they took the lead with a 25-yard field goal from Morrison for the 17-14 halftime lead.

Though the second half wasn’t kind to Hillsboro, they did have success on their first drive of the third quarter, coming out of the locker room and taking just two plays to regain the lead. Getting possession of the ball from their own 34-yard line, Ryan Burns had a 40-yard rush to the MTHS 26-yard line on first down. The next play, Burns finished what he started as the fullback went on a 26-yard dash to pay dirt, scoring the third Indians touchdown of the game with 11:41 left in the third. Bailey made the PAT for a 21-17 Hillsboro lead.

Miami Trace, once again, didn’t trail for long, taking six plays to take back the lead. The drive’s second play saw Enochs have a 63-yard rush from the MT 20-yard line to the Hillsboro 17-yard line, as the run was stopped by Nic Burns. After a penalty and a positive yardage play, the Panthers had a third-and-13 play from the HHS 20-yard line, then turned that into six points with Robinette finding Skye Salyers for a 20-yard touchdown reception with 9:54 left in the third. The PAT was no good, leaving the Panthers ahead 23-21.

Trailing by only two points, the Indians were still in contention with the Panthers on the scoreboard, but their quarterback was hit on the first play of the drive, causing a fumble — after the Indians started on the MTHS 36-yard line following a big return by Tre Captain  — and MT’s Enochs scooped up the football and took the ball to the Indians’ 29-yard line with 9:37 left in the third.

One play later, the Panthers held a nine-point lead following a Robinette pass to Salyers on a slant route for a 29-yard touchdown with 9:27 on the MTHS scoreboard. Morrison’s PAT was good for a 30-21 Panthers lead.

“That was a big swing,” Horne said of the aforementioned fumble and MT touchdown. “That one hurt.”

After a HHS punt, Nic Burns got back passion of the back with his second interception of the game and fourth of the season with 4:14 left in the third, rushing the ball all the way to the MTHS 1-yard line.

The Indians capitalized on the turnover with a 1-yard touchdown run by Dumpert with 4:09 left in the third. HHS had unsportsmanlike penalties on the touchdown, followed by MTHS having the same penalty following a blocked PAT, leaving the score 30-27 in favor of Miami Trace.

The Panthers scored another touchdown with 9:54 left in the fourth as a 11-play drive ended with Westin Dawes running for an 8-yard score. Morrison made the PAT for a 37-27 Panther lead.

The Indians started off the ensuing drive with a 49-yard run by Ryan Burns, which was the highlight of the drive, as a holding penalty called on the Indians led to a fourth-and-14 play. There was still hope for HHS as Miami Trace was called for a pass inference penalty on the fourth down play, making it a fourth-and-4 play for the Indians on the MTHS 10-yard line. Having an opportunity for a first down, MTHS stopped a Hillsboro run in the backfield, causing a turnover on downs.  

Miami Trace scored one last touchdown with 2:13 left in the fourth quarter when Dawes rushed for a 39-yard touchdown. The PAT was good, leaving the score at 44-27.

For Hillsboro, Burns finished with 17 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

“Ryan had a pretty good game,” Horne said. “He plays fullback, and we give that position the ball a lot, so he hit a couple traps. Hats off to our guards for pulling on those traps, and we had a couple good midline plays where Ryan got the ball. He ran well today.”

Dumpert totaled 15 carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Dumpert was also 3-of-5 passing for 25 yards with one interception.

Swackhamer totaled seven carries for 24 yards, and Elliott had five carries for 76 yards. Dom Smart had one carry for one yard, and Brown had two receptions for 22 yards. As an offense, the Indians totaled 373 yards, including 348 yards rushing.

Next for Hillsboro is their homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 4 as they will host the Chillicothe Cavaliers (0-1, 0-6) at 7 p.m. at Richards Memorial Field.

“Next week is at home against Chillicothe, and they’ve been struggling, but they have been playing some tough teams,” Horne said. “We know they have talent. They lost to Portsmouth West by a point, so we know we are in for a dog fight next week, so we’ll have to regroup and go after them.”

Miami Trace will host the McClain Tigers (0-1, 1-5) next Friday (Oct. 4) in Week 7 at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: John Deans led HHS with seven tackles (five solo) … Ryan Burns totaled five tackles (three solo) and one sack … Brown had six tackles (two solo) … Landon Jordan totaled two assisted tackles … Shawn Hottinger and Tre Captain each had one solo tackle … Michael Burns finished with five tackles (three solo) … Elliott had six tackles (three solo) … Swackhamer finished with two tackles … Jaiden Captain had six tackles (three solo) … JaHari Pitts had two solo tackles … Kaiden Robbins finished with two tackles (one solo).

BOX SCORE
HHS    14 00 13 00 — 27
MTHS    14 03 13 14 — 44

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