Indians fall to Goshen, 41-7, in non-league contest
The Hillsboro Indians traveled to Clermont County Friday night for a non-league contest against the Goshen Warriors.
The Indians played well, at times, in the first half. The two teams battled to a scoreless first period, but Hillsboro turnovers led to a pair of Warriors' TDs in the second quarter and a 21-7 halftime advantage for the home team.
The second half was all Goshen, as the Warriors outscored the Indians, 20-0, after the break for a 41-7 victory.
The score was 13-7 in favor of Goshen late in the first half.
However, the Warriors added a third TD and a two-point conversion with 5 seconds on the clock to take a 21-7 halftime advantage.
The Indians' defense started the night on a positive note with a strong stand inside their own 10-yard line that stalled a promising opening drive from the Warriors.
The Hillsboro offense tried to capitalize on the momentum gained on the defensive side of the ball, converting multiple fourth-down conversions, but a fumbled hand-off attempt put the brakes on perhaps the most promising scoring drive the Indians had seen nearly a quarter and a half into the game.
On the first play following the fumbled hand-off, Goshen senior running back Marcus Casey broke his first of two long touchdown runs to put the Warriors up 7-0.
A quick Hillsboro possession and the Warriors found the end zone once again, this time on an 18-yard touchdown run by Jake Nelson. A blocked extra point left the Warriors with a 13-0 lead.
With time winding down in the second quarter and Hillsboro’s back against the wall, the Indians’ quarterback Logan Lesley hooked up with Zach Young for a 35-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10.
Just as quickly as the Indians had stolen the momentum, Goshen took it right back, as Goshen scored on a tipped pass from Brandon Steele to Mike Davis with five seconds remaining in the half. The Warriors converted their two-point conversion to lead 21-7 at the break.
Unfortunately for Hillsboro fans, the second half brought more of the same.
Following a promising opening drive to the second half that milked most of the third quarter, the Indians stalled out inside Goshen’s 10-yard line only to have Steele take a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-one 91 yards to the house, putting the Indians behind 28-7.
Hillsboro recovered a fumble with 8:52 left on the clock, but was unable to convert any points out of the turnover.
And then, the Warriors scored another long touchdown on Casey’s second scoring run, this one from 69 yards.
"Goshen uses all four skill players in the backfield to attack, offensively," HHS Head Coach Brian Spicer said in this week's interview for the game preview story.
"They are good at what they do and very confident. They have everybody back from last year, and their three running backs are used differently, but used effectively, and their quarterback runs their offense well."
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The scoring was capped off when Jimmy Carr blocked a Hillsboro punt with 3:19 remaining, recovered the loose ball and scored to end the game with a final score of 41-7.
Goshen, which competes in the American Division of the Southern Buckeye Conference, improved to 2-0 on the 2012 season, after wins over Hamilton Ross and HHS.
Hillsboro dropped to 0-2, and will host the Wilmington Hurricane on Sept. 7 at Richards Memorial Field.
Last year, Goshen defeated Hillsboro by a 28-26 score in one of the hottest games on record at Richards Memorial Field (the game-time temperature was 93 degrees).
Score by quarters
HHS – 00 07 00 00 – 07
GHS – 00 21 00 20 – 41
– With special thanks to Mr. Terry Britton,
Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education; and The Clermont Sun