Indians score 32 points in win at Goshen

The Hillsboro Indians earned their first win of the 2024 season with a dominant effort on Friday night in Week 2, defeating the host Goshen Warriors, 32-7.

Hillsboro’s non-conference win saw the Indians total 360 yards of offense and have three offensive touchdowns. The Indians also added a pick-six and a field goal in their 25-point victory.

Dom Smart finished the game for Hillsboro with eight carries for 104 yards and one touchdown. Teammate Tre Captain totaled seven carries for 46 yards and a touchdown, plus he added three receptions for 19 yards. On defense, Captain also had an interception. Ryan Burns finished the win with five carries for 32 yards.

Quarterback Mason Dumpert finished the Week 2 win with 10 rushes for 74 yards and a touchdown, plus he was 4-of-9 passing for 34 yards. Jeven Hochstuhl finished with seven carries for 69 yards, one catch for 15 yards, and on defense he collected a forced fumble and recovery, plus had a pick-six.

Defensively, John Deans had a blocked punt which resulted in two points off a safety for the Indians, and Wesley Bailey kicked a field goal in the Indians’ win.

“We started a little slow. We were trying to figure out what they were doing, but then we picked it up midway through the second quarter, got a few special teams things there and the safety at the end of the half there was big,” HHS head coach Nathan Horne said. “It was a good, well-rounded victory. We had a defensive score and a special teams score and field goal. All kinds of different guys scored for us offensively, so we spread the ball pretty well. It was a good night for us.

“Dom had that knee surgery last year, and he's getting back. We're kind of working him in a little slowly. Ryan's coming in for us, and he stepped up, with Logan [Elliott] being out. He’s taking that role. We have a one-two punch there at fullback, and then you’ve got Tre and Jeven at the slot back. Both those kids are good runners. The challenge for me is to spread the ball around, get everybody the touches. We’ve got some talent there, so I try to get them all touches, and make the defense defend everybody.”

The Indians and Warriors battled to a scoreless tie when the first quarter ended, and in the second quarter on third down Captain grabbed his interception at the Goshen 39-yard line.

Four plays later, the Indians scored the first points of the game with a 20-yard run by Captain for six points and the touchdown on first down with 7:52 left in the second quarter. The PAT by Bailey was good for the 7-0 lead.

The Indians’ lead increased to 10 points, as Bailey connected with a 28-yard field goal with 1:04 left in the second for the 10-0 lead.

Before halftime, the blocked punt was made by Deans, putting the Indians ahead 12-0 after two quarters.

The third quarter was bright for the Indians with Smart scoring a touchdown on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. The PAT was no good, leaving the Indians in front by an 18-0 score with around 5:00 left in the quarter.

Hochstuhl forced a fumble and recovered the loose ball for Hillsboro on the ensuing drive, as the third quarter came to a close two plays later with the Indians ahead by 18 points.

In the fourth Nic Burns had a solid punt, putting Goshen on their own 20-yard line. Two plays later, the Indians added six more points as Hochstuhl gained his interception for a touchdown, taking the ball to pay dirt with 10:03 left in the game. Bailey made the PAT as the Indians built a 24-0 lead.

Goshen scored their first points of the game with 8:29 on the clock in the fourth quarter and after the PAT the Indians lead went to 25-7.

After excellent field position following the kickoff, Dumpert scored the Indians’ final points with an 18-yard rush for a touchdown. Bailey made another PAT, putting the Indians ahead 32-7.

“Mason ran the midline pretty well. He had some good reads and some good long runs for us. With the front that they were giving us and trying to stop off tackle plays, they were giving us the middle some and we were running some midline plays, and he read it well,” Horne said. “He read it well and scored on a belly option play down here late in the game. That was a really good play where he picked it up inside and they were trying to take the outside away.

“Our defense played well. We hurt their quarterback early, and that kind of really hamstrung them. I feel for them in that aspect, but that's part of the game. Our defense played well, so we rose to the occasion, picked it up from last week. We’ve got some work still to do with a strong opponent next week with Portsmouth West, so you’ve just got to continue to get better.”

Hillsboro’s win puts them at 1-1 overall, and they are scheduled to play again in Week 3 on Friday, Sept. 6 at Richards Memorial Field for the first time this season, as they will be hosting the Portsmouth West Senators (0-2) in a non-conference game at 7 p.m.

Goshen (0-2) is scheduled to play Week 3 at Waynesville (0-2) at 7 p.m.

(Editor’s Note: Caitlin Forsha contributed to this article. Also, thanks to WSRW 101.5 FM Radio and Hillsboro statistician Larry Scruggs for stats and game info.)

BOX SCORE
HHS    00 12 06 14 — 32
GHS    00 00 00 07 — 07

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