Battered Trojans drop second in row
Hillsboro falls to Haven, 20-6
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Trojan coach Len Coryea is baffled.
Is his team's recent brush with hard luck and injuries due to being out of conditioning? Is the team convinced they can't win without their star players?
There's no mistake. Something is wrong.
Star wideout Dan Deckert is out with a high ankle sprain, Michael Suderman is lost for the year, quarterback Derek Hamm went down Friday night against Haven, as did Wade Weibert and Chad Hughbanks.
While the casualties are quickly adding up for Hillsboro, so are the losses with the hosting Trojans (1-2) learning Friday night how not to start the game.
The big, physical, and experienced Wildcats (2-1) handed the young Trojans their second straight setback, a 20-6 stinker.
Coryea was quick to take the fall for his team coming out flatter than a pancake.
"I will accept the blame for not being fired up," he said. "We were just flat coming out and I will accept the blame for that.
"Are my injuries occurring because we're out of shape and we're just getting caught too vertical? You get injured when you're tired, I know that, and it's not that we don't practice hard."
Hillsboro had a good chance to take the lead on the opening kickoff with the Wildcats muffing the kick and Weibert recovering at the Haven 29.
Converting third downs hasn't been the Trojans' cup of tea the past two games, and they lost yardage and excellent field position.
Last week it was Chapman's Dylan Bathurst wreaking havoc on the Trojans, and Friday it was Brent Cooprider's turn.
Using some trickery, Matt Meyer took the handoff from quarterback Isiah Barfield before hooking up with Cooprider.
Running unscathed past the Trojan sidelines, Cooprider scampered 94-yards to put Haven on top 7-0 after the PAT, 1:41 into the game.
Cooprider nearly out-gained the Trojans offensively by himself, finishing with a team-high 53 yards rushing and a game-high 118 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
With the two teams combining for eight turnovers with four each, the game was downright ugly.
By the end of the first quarter, the game was tied in turnovers with both teams committing a pair.
Hillsboro fumbled its second and third drives away while Haven coughed it up on a first-and-goal at the 10.
Tyler Goldsby was there to recover, but the Trojans got zilch out of three Wildcat fumbles.
The Wildcats cashed in on another Trojan turnover with Matt Brown getting picked off by Barfield after a bad snap on a punt attempt.
Barfield took it in, but a personal foul on the Wildcats waived off the touchdown.
Meyer made it a 14-0 game with 6:44 left in the first half, scoring on a one-yard plunge up the middle.
Hillsboro went into the break, down 14-0, rolling up just 66 yards of offense with 47 coming in the air while yielding the Wildcats 176.
Cooprider struck for the last time with just over 30 seconds left in the
For the second week, Hillsboro's touchdown late in the fourth quarter came too little, too late.
With Derek Hamm on the sidelines, backup Josh Boese aired it out for Adam Scheele for a 40-yard score with 6:33 left in the game, set up by a Wildcat fumble.
Tyler Kaufman's PAT was batted down by the Wildcats front wall, making for the 20-6 final.
"We've got to quit showing heart just at the end when we're down 20-0," Coryea said. "That kind of heart can get to be a habit, too. I thought this was a game we should win. We've just got to keep working on fundamentals."
Scheele caught two passes for a team-high 68 yards with Boese going 2-for-9 for 68 yards.
The Trojans got a promising sign from sensational sophomore fullback-tailback Lucas Hamm, carrying the ball eight times for a game-high 65 yards.
Hillsboro travels Friday to Lindsborg for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Smoky Valley Vikings.
