HHS: Bigger Panthers slow Trojans
Late Nickerson field goal sinks Hillsboro, 9-7
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Contrary to popular belief, speed doesn't always beat size.
In the few cases where the larger team has prevailed, it's a matter of using size to wear the quicker team out.
One long drive in Friday night's game between the Trojans' football team and hosting Nickerson was all it took for the Panthers to stop speedier Hillsboro.
The Panthers used their NCAA Division I-sized offensive line to pound right up the middle, setting up a 21-yard Noah Krol field goal with just over 3:00 left in the game.
Krol's field goal set the tables for a 9-7 upset of the seventh-ranked Trojans, dropping them to 1-1 on the season.
Trojan coach Dustin McEwen knew that to be successful, his team would have to be the ones to tire out the opponent and control the line of scrimmage.
It was Nickerson's fourth-quarter drive that dashed hopes of that, eating up better than 7:00 of the clock.
The Panthers traded off with backs Dallas Stephens and Garrett Rempel to batter the Trojans' defense.
Nickerson's duo ground out a combined 102 of its 104 yards rushing.
Hillsboro stopped the Panthers inside its own five-yard line, but it was close enough for Krol to hit the game-winning field goal.
"Obviously their size on their final drive was enormous," said a discouraged McEwen. "That's hard, and you can't get around people. They're not a bad team. They're going to beat a lot of people just because of that size."
Not only did the Panthers' size wreak havoc on the Trojans' defense, but it damaged their offense, too.
Being a team that has won both with a balanced passing and rushing attack, Hillsboro had to rely solely on its ground game.
Of the Trojans' 177 yards of total offense, 158 came from its backfield.
The taller Panthers' defense made it harder for Trojan quarterback Dustin Jost to see the field, holding him to a modest two of 15 in completions for 19 yards.
Nickerson flushed Jost out of the pocket all night, keeping both he and the Trojan offense on its heels.
"He (Jost) wasn't comfortable," McEwen said. "He was getting some pressure and that happens.
"They had a good scheme as far as coming and pressuring with the big guys."
When it wasn't the Panthers' size that slowed down the Trojans, either penalties or turnovers put the skids on Hillsboro's offense.
"We just didn't quite get there," McEwen said. "We were never quite firing all the way. Penalties were almost worse than turnovers were for us tonight."
One of Jost's two interceptions set up a one-yard touchdown plunge by Tyson Bauerle which put the Panthers in front 6-0 with 43 seconds left in the first quarter.
It could have been worse for the Trojans as Nickerson recovered a fumbled punt at Hillsboro's 14-yard line.
The Panthers ran the ball four times to the Trojans' five before turning the ball over downs.
Hillsboro dodged a bullet going into the break, down just 6-0, despite all 67 yards of its first half offense coming on the ground.
The Trojans' speed did appear to run the Panthers out of gas in the second half.
Shawn Hughbanks, Kyle Jilka and Steve Chisholm punished Bauerle in the third quarter with a trio of sacks for a 16-yard loss.
Then Caleb Marsh finally put Hillsboro ahead 7-6, scoring on a 20-yard dash and the PAT with 2:17 left in the third quarter.
Marsh paced the Trojans' rushing with six carries for 73 yards.
The Trojans couldn't have picked a worse time to have a pass interference call than on a Panther third and one at the Trojans' 36 with under 5:00 left in the game.
The questionable call gave the Panthers a fresh set of downs at the Hillsboro 21, a pivotal call in the winning drive.
Hillsboro was nowhere close to being done.
Kris Jones lit out on a 16-yard run in the fourth quarter, moving the Trojans deep into Panther territory only to have a holding call waive it off.
One of Jost's two completions, a 15-yard bullet to Steven Chisholm, kept the drive alive for Hillsboro.
What looked like a insuring drive stalled out with the Trojans turning the ball over on downs, with time now its biggest opponent.
The Trojans still had a breath of life left, stopping the Panthers at Hillsboro's 35 with 16 seconds left.
But an incomplete pass as the final horn sounded erased any chance of a Hillsboro comeback.
The Trojans play host Friday to an always-dangerous Smoky Valley team.
Game time at Reimer Field begins at 7 p.m.
