By conan glickman

Staff writer

Three minutes in to their game Friday night against the Halstead Dragons, the Hillsboro Trojans looked poised to spoil the homecoming plans of their undefeated hosts.

Hillsboro took the opening kickoff and moved smartly down the field with a well designed mix of runs and passes. Quarterback Kaden Kleiner connected on his first three attempts for 31 yards, and Jorge Hanschu added a gutsy 16-yard run taking the Trojans down to the Dragons’ 11-yard line. Halstead held firm there and the Trojans settled for a 26-yard field goal by Jeffrey Jorgenson.

After that, Dragons quarterback Chase VanSteenburg put on a clinic on the quick-strike offense, posting touchdown runs of 7 and 28 yards along with a 61-yard touchdown pass in just under 7 minutes. The Dragons would go into halftime leading Hillsboro 22 - 3.

The teams settled into a scoreless back and forth affair until Van Steenburg scored his third rushing touchdown of the night, a 3-yard run, to make the score 28 - 3 going in to the fourth quarter.

Add one more score, a 5-yard scamper by Halstead’s Layke Heimerman to 4 Trojans’ turnovers, 3 interceptions and 1 fumble, and the Trojans fell 36 -3.

The Trojans look to rebound against the Haven Wildcats this Friday night at Haven.