Hillsboro defense smothers Eagles
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Looks can be deceiving.
Ask Hillsboro High School football coach Len Coryea.
Before Friday night's homecoming game against the winless Ellinwood Eagles, Coryea had seen things on tape that had him shaking in his shoes.
That's not ridiculous, considering that injury-laden Hillsboro had two victories within its grasp slip away in the waning minutes.
For the first time this season, Coryea actually could relax after the first quarter as a 40-point first half, combined with a bludgeoning defense, helped the Trojans (2-2) drub the Eagles (0-4), 47-0.
"We were real worried all week long. They did things against Halstead that scared me," a much happier Coryea said. "They kept throwing it and throwing it and throwing it with regularity, and with our injury status, you get a little puckered-up on those kinds of things."
Hillsboro bolted out of the gate in a flash with homecoming king Spencer Brown scoring three of his four touchdowns in the game's opening 11 minutes, leaving the Eagles a beaten team after just one frame.
Brown carried the ball six times for 63 yards and threw for 21 more on another touchdown, but it was Jake Yoder and Ishmael Morris shredding the Eagles' defense.
Yoder ran for a game-high 135 yards and a touchdown, ripping off a 33-yard gain in the first half which set up the final touchdown of the opening quarter.
Morris had 10 carries for a season-high 105 yards and a touchdown.
"We had nice practices all week," Coryea said. "I was actually pretty relaxed after the first period. Our defense was stopping them, they've moved the ball on other teams and you see that, you say 'whoa'."
The Trojan defense said "no", holding the Eagle offense to a dormant 30 total yards, while three of their six backs were limited to negative yardage.
Only twice did the Eagles pass mid-field, and Hillsboro surrendered just three first downs.
For the first time since last year's crushing of Marion, the 35-point moving clock rule was executed after halftime.
Hillsboro finished with 338 yards on the ground and 21 yards passing in a game that allowed Coryea to use his underclassmen in the second half.
Another positive for the Trojans was a 5-for-7 performance on extra point kicks — a sore spot so far this season for Hillsboro.
"We made a few," said Coryea. "Tonight I said I don't care what the score was, we're kicking every one. Spencer's been kicking better, but Leihy's (Isaac) got a boot. The kid's got a great leg, we don't know where it's at half the time."
The Trojans will play at 7 p.m. Friday on the road against Sterling. The 2-2 Black Bears have downed both Nickerson and Marion this season.
