HILLSBORO: Football squad stubs toes against Ellinwood
Eagles spoil Hillsboro's homecoming, 22-20
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Trojan coach Dustin McEwen wasn't ready to send out an SOS Sept. 20 when his team dropped its second straight game against Smoky Valley.
He still found a way to smile, insisting that he wasn't worried after the Trojans dipped one game under .500 against the Vikings.
With the way things went for the Trojans Friday night against the visiting Ellinwood Eagles, now might be a good time for McEwen to fire the flare gun.
Hillsboro's ship and spirits continued sinking with the Eagles pulling off a 22-20 shocker on the Trojans' own homecoming.
Losers of three straight by a total of five points, the Trojans are off to their roughest start ever with McEwen at the helm.
Anyone needing a reason why the Trojans are 1-3 doesn't need to look any further than generosity.
Against the Eagles, Hillsboro spotted Ellinwood 19 points off three turnovers.
"I told them (players) in the huddle that we kind of gave them one," said a straight-faced McEwen. "My biggest thing right now is to make sure nobody jumps ship and realizes that we can still win a lot of ball games."
All it took for the Eagles to bring a feeling of melancholy to the Trojans' homecoming was two of Ellinwood's first three possessions. Homecoming had all the makings to get ugly in a hurry with Tyler Peachey bobbling the opening kickoff.
Ellinwood recovered the fumble at the Hillsboro-27 and six plays later, Eagle quarterback Cody Engle found a wide-open Anthony Barr for a 13-yard touchdown.
Ellinwood exploited the Trojans' weak secondary again Friday night with the Eagles finishing 11-for-22 for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Hillsboro had its opening drive fizzle out in three downs, forcing the Trojans' defense to spend the majority of the first quarter with a tent pitched on the field.
The Trojans' struggle keeping the football continued as they coughed it up deep in their own territory on the second drive.
The Eagles capitalized on another Trojan-miscue with Engle hitting Ryan Isern on first-and-10 for a 23-yard touchdown.
Seven minutes and :57 seconds into the game, Hillsboro was shell-shocked.
Trailing 13-0, Hillsboro finally made it a game :06 seconds into the second quarter.
Caleb Marsh recovered an Eagle-fumble at the Ellinwood-35, setting up an Alan Yoder 27-yard touchdown run around the right end.
Yoder rushed for a season-high 97 yards on 16 carries as part of the Trojans' 154 yards rushing.
Marsh's PAT cut it to a 13-7 game, bringing the Trojan crowd to life.
Dustin Jost sent the Trojans into intermission with a 14-13 lead, scoring on a 1-yard quarterback keeper just before the end of the first half.
Being down just one was a big compliment to the Eagles considering they got hit seven times for 75 yards worth of penalties in the first half alone.
Hillsboro appeared to have buried the disastrous first quarter in the second half with a 46-yard bomb from Jost to Kris Jones.
Marsh's PAT sailed wide right, but the Trojans increased their lead to 20-13 nearly 4:30 into the second half.
The lead seemed to be stable with the Trojan defense never allowing the Eagles past midfield by actually moving the ball. The two times the Eagles did get past midfield, they got the help of Hillsboro's five infractions for 35 yards.
What happened in the waning moments of the third quarter is likely to haunt the Trojans for many years to come.
Hillsboro had a golden opportunity to add on to the lead, driving the ball to the Eagle-12. But miscommunica-tion on a pitch from Jost out to Yoder resulted in disaster for Hillsboro.
Josh Williams scooped up the loose ball and scampered right past the Trojan-sideline for an 88-yard fumble return. The Eagles swooped right back down on Hillsboro's tail, trailing 20-19, :15 seconds into the final frame.
Four minutes :07 seconds later, Ellinwood delivered the back-breaker with Engle splitting the uprights on a 27-yard field goal.
Still, Hillsboro refused to die.
Yoder barreled up the middle on a fourth-and-one for two yards, giving the Trojans a fresh set of downs at the Eagle-12. A five-yard run by Yoder on third-and-13 got the Trojans as close as the Eagle-10 after a block-in-the-back call.
For the second week in a row, the fate of the Trojans again rested in Marsh's hand. What would have been the game winning 27-yard field goal was slowed by the Eagles' front seven, allowing Ellinwood to run out the clock.
"We have to decide right now if it's poor play or if we're playing above ourselves," McEwen said. "Or are we just equal with everybody?
"We gave this one away though in my opinion."
Brighter skies perhaps lie ahead Friday for the Trojans when they travel to Ellsworth for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Bearcats.
