1992 Indians or 1930 Cowboys?

(Continued from last week.)

The Chaminade-Julienne Eagles had a weapon known as Barrett Robinson. Robinson was a 6-0, 180 pound fullback. Robinson was one of the hardest-running fullbacks in Div. II football. He had a monster game against the under-manned Indians, rushing 29 times for 222 yards and four touchdowns.

Chaminade dressed 70 players for the game. None of them were freshmen.

Hillsboro dressed 48, and that included 13 freshmen.

The Indians were swimming upstream in this one, and there was little doubt about that. The Eagles, who led 31-0 after three quarters, took a 31-14 win over the Indians, and would advance to meet St. Marys Memorial at Troy, the following Friday night.

The Indians, however, had nothing to be ashamed of.

They battled the larger Eagles all over the field. Chaminade had 18 first downs in the game, Hillsboro had 15. Chaminade rushed 43 times for 285 yards, while the Indians rushed 37 times for 199 yards.

Hillsboro passed 14 times, completing 12 for 93 yards. CJ only passed 17 times, completing 5 for 68 yards.

The Red and White put up a game battle against overwhelming odds. Had they been able to find a way to control Barrett Robinson, things might have been different – but, a lot of teams had been trying to find a way to do that all season.

Eleven Indian seniors played their final football game for the Red and White. They included J.D. Wagoner, Chad Price, Matt Kruse, Rodney Captain, Jason Spruance, Dennis Zahn, Sean Longstreth, Kevin Bennington, James Jones, Mike Rapp and Brent Carper.

Hillsboro head coach Jim Horne was named Southeast District Coach of the Year in Division II.

In 10 seasons with the Indians, Horne had compiled a 56-44 record, most of it in the tough South Central Ohio League.

In addition, senior defensive nose tackle Sean Longstreth, senior safety J.D. Wagoner and junior fullback Brad Beatty were all named first team All-Southeast District and junior quarterback Chad Downing received special mention on the All-District team. Longstreth and Wagoner were named second team All-Ohio as well.

This would go down as one of Hillsboro High School’s all-time great football seasons.

Was it the best ever?

Some would say the 1930 Hillsboro Cowboys (yes, they were Cowboys back then – and their colors were purple and white) was the best Hillsboro team ever, because they won Hillsboro’s only outright SCOL football championship. But the 1930 Cowboys had a tie game with Wilmington in the final SCOL game of the season. Wilmington had one league loss, while Hillsboro had none.

Was the SCOL a tougher league than the SBC? I’ll leave that to the reader. Or, to Rory Ryan, who saw the 1930 Cowboys play. I was too young.

* * *

The McClain (football) Tigers, playing as an independent, without league affiliation, fielded a formidable team in 1993, under fourth-year coach Troy Dawson.

The 1993 team would feature an experienced line, with six returning starters from the 1992 squad. Senior quarterback Andy Bolender would head a list of 18 seniors on this year’s team.

Junior tailback Scott Counter would spearhead the ground attack. Counter gained nearly 800 yards as a sophomore, and was considered one of the swiftest backs in the area. With a very big offensive line in front of him, this should be a great season for the tailback. Dawson was of the opinion that his defensive unit might be the strongest McClain had fielded in years.

The defense would not be especially big, but would be very quick and hard-hitting. “They won’t back down from anybody,” Dawson commented.

(Continued next week.)

Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.