Indians unable to overcome injuries, fast-tempo offense of Western Brown in Week 1 loss 

MT. ORAB — Two plays of 50-plus yards for touchdowns were what stood out the most for the Hillsboro Indians in Week 1 during their 2026 season opener against the Western Brown Broncos at Kibler Stadium. 

Other than those plays, the Friday night lights were not kind to the Indians in Week 1 as an injury to senior quarterback Collin Swackhamer, and big plays by the host Broncos, derailed any momentum gained by the Indians with Hillsboro suffering a 49-13 road loss. 

Hillsboro’s standouts were senior running back Tre Captain and junior Jonathan Malone, each of whom rushed for 100-plus yards. Captain finished with 14 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown. Malone had 22 carries for 142 yards and a touchdown. 

“I thought Tre ran hard today, and I thought Johnny also ran hard,” HHS head coach Nathan Horne said.

The first touchdown of the game was scored by Western Brown — a 1-yard run on first-and-goal by junior Michael Andrews with 8:11 left in the opening quarter. The PAT made by sophomore Brayden Moore pushed the Broncos to a 7-0 lead. 

Hillsboro answered with a 60-yard run on the next play from scrimmage as Captain raced 60 yards for a touchdown with 7:52 left on the clock. The PAT by senior Grant Shepard tied the score at 7-7.  

HHS then forced a punt after allowing just two yards on the ensuing Western Brown drive, but after going downfield (starting from their own 7-yard line), the Indians worked their way to their own 48-yard line. A fumble that was recovered by junior Nash Scroggins gave WBHS the ball on the 46-yard line with 3:22 on the first-quarter clock. 

The Broncos took just two plays to take the lead with junior Deon Bradford passing to senior Rylin Anderson for a 58-yard score as Anderson broke a tackle attempt and raced downfield for the touchdown. The PAT was good for a 14-7 Bronco lead. Anderson totaled two receptions for 66 yards and a TD, while also having three carries for 43 yards and a TD. 

Hillsboro’s next drive saw the worst happen, and that was when Swackhamer left the game with an injury, and he didn’t return to the field for the remainder of the game with 10 seconds left in the quarter. HHS eventually had a turnover on downs four plays later as the Broncos made a stop in the backfield on a fourth-and-4 play on the WBHS 9-yard line. 

“(Collin) is our quarterback, and he is our safety. He gets us lined up on defense and runs the offense,” Horne said. “He is a good kid and a good player, and when he goes down, it affects us, and (Western Brown) smelled blood in the water and sent the house on us. (Rush) Workman did the best he could. He is a freshman and he’s not ready for all of that. I told him I was proud of him for the effort he played with. 

“This is a tough matchup for us Week 1. We have young kids in the secondary, and (Western Brown) is a no-huddle team, a fast-tempo team, and we got rattled and things just kind of unraveled from there. It was a fast-paced tempo offense, young kids, and wide-open people downfield … that is what it was.”

Western Brown capitalized with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended in the endzone with a 7-yard pass from sophomore Brody Barber to Andrews with 7:23 left in the second quarter. Again, the PAT by Moore was good for a 21-7 lead for the home-team Broncos. Barber finished 5-of-10 passing for 186 yards with a touchdown. Barber also had two rushes for 13 yards, Andrews had five catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. 

Following a three-and-out by HHS, the Broncos added another seven points to their total with a 21-yard score by Bradford off a pass from Barber with 4:08 remaining in the second. The PAT went through the uprights off a kick by Moore, even with the PAT being a longer distance due to an illegal procedure penalty. Bradford rushed the ball six times for 64 yards and a touchdown, plus caught four passes for 102 yards and a TD. 

With WBHS leading 28-7, their defense continued to cause the Indians’ offense problems with a three-and-out. Then it was time for Western Brown to add another touchdown before halftime. The fifth Bronco score was a 40-yard run by Bradford as he avoided a Hillsboro defender, then raced his way to paydirt for six points. Moore’s PAT was good for a 35-7 lead with 1:50 left in the second, a score that stood when halftime arrived. 

Western Brown didn’t even need to take the field on offense to score their sixth touchdown, taking the opening kickoff 80-plus yards for a touchdown with 11:48 left in the third. The PAT by Moore made it a 42-7 lead. 

The Broncos’ seventh and final touchdown was a 30-yard run to the endzone by Anderson with 5:32 left in the fourth quarter. Moore made his seventh PAT for a 48-7 lead. 

Hillsboro scored their final touchdown of the game as time expired when Malone ran for a 57-yard touchdown. 

Next for the Indians (0-1) is a Week 2 road non-conference game on Friday, Aug. 28 against the Goshen Warriors (1-0) at 7 p.m. 

“Goshen is a very good team. We jumped on them last year and they kind of figured us out some, but it was a little too late for that,” Horne said of the Warriors. “They have got everybody back, and going there to play, it is going to be a big challenge for us.”

Western Brown (1-0) will play on the road in Week 2 against Simon Kenton, Ky. (1-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28. 

GAME NOTES: Hillsboro didn’t attempt a pass the entire game … Captain had a rush of 24 yards in the final moments of the first quarter on fourth down … HHS freshman Ryker Zink had a 45-plus yard punt in the second quarter … Captain also had a solid kickoff return for 30-plus yards late in the second quarter … Malone had a 10-yard run for a first down in the third quarter before the drive ended with a punt of 42 yards by Zink as the ball went to the 6-yard line on a fourth-and-10 from the 50-yard line … Captain had a 20-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter … The game had a running clock following the first touchdown of the second half as WBHS held a lead of at least 35 points in the second half … Bradford had a reception of 42 yards in the second quarter for WBHS ... As a team WBHS has 12 receptions for 233 yards and three touchdowns, plus they added 16 carries for 142 yards and three TDs. (Hillsboro individual stats from HHS MaxPreps page; Western Brown individual stats from SBAAC page)

BOX SCORE
HHS        07 00 00 06 — 13
WBHS    14 21 07 07 — 49