Hillsboro football team falls to Haven
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Trojan football coach Dustin McEwen swears he has all the pieces of the puzzle for his team.
Now the big test is finding out where they go and putting them together.
In Friday's season opener in Hillsboro against the more experienced and tougher Haven Wildcats, the Trojans must have been blindfolded trying to put the puzzle together.
The number to keep in mind for Hillsboro is four as just a quartet of starters return on both sides of the ball.
That's the lowest number McEwen has had back in his eight years at the Trojans' helm and a tough way to open the season against an experienced team like Haven.
Experience played a huge factor in the Wildcats getting Hillsboro's season off to a sour start with a 31-6 setback.
"I told the guys there's a tremendous upside to this," McEwen said of his team's misfortune. "We are very, very much youth. They (Haven) played a pretty good game, they are older than us and they played older than us."
That showed from the get-go as Haven jumped on top, 7-0, after recovering a loose ball on the Trojans' second possession.
A year removed from opening the season with a win at Haven, the Trojans still had their share of troubles with another quarterback named Andy.
This year, it was Andy Dirks.
Dirks was a one-man wrecking crew to Hillsboro, playing a key role in four of Haven's five scores.
Dirks accounted for 254 yards of total offense and two touchdowns, throwing for 216 yards on a nine-of-18.
"That quarterback is as shifty and throws as well as any quarterback we'll see this year," said McEwen of Dirks. "I said that last year with Meyer (Andy) as well and they had another one tonight."
It was Dirks that scooped up the first of two Trojan-fumbles and raced in from 20 yards out, 4:40 into the game.
While Andy Meyer may be gone, Matt Meyer is still there, and he, along with Dirks, spelled disaster for the Trojan defense.
The inexperienced Trojan line made it difficult for quarterback Caleb Marsh to ever get comfortable in the pocket and on offense.
By the time the final horn sounded, Marsh had picked himself up off the Reimer Field grass seven times.
Hillsboro caught a big break on the Wildcats' second possession with a high snap sailing over the punter's head.
The Trojans recovered the ball in their best field position of the game, at the Wildcat 34.
Marsh finished the game seven-for-16 throwing for 116 yards to go along with 16 carries for 21 of Hillsboro's 87 yards on the ground.
Starting what could be a good pass combination of Marsh to Daniel Deckert, a 32-yard dart to the junior receiver set up a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
Deckert left the game shaken up the second half after pulling down four catches for a team-high 55 yards.
One play later, Marsh had trimmed the lead to 7-6, barreling in on a quarterback keeper with 2:31 left in the opening quarter.
Marsh's PAT was batted down, and the Trojans' never reached the end zone again.
Hillsboro drove the ball all the way to the Wildcat 25 before Marsh was picked off by Thomas Cooprider, one of three interceptions on the night for Marsh.
The Cooprider INT set up a 67-yard bomb from Dirks to Matt Meyer that put Haven up 13-6 after the blocked PAT with 1:49 still left in the first quarter.
Turnovers and penalties were the biggest enemies of the Trojans as they spotted Haven with 18 of its 25 points at intermission from three turnovers.
The final touchdown of the half was set up by Marsh floating a pass right to Cody Johnson, giving way to a 37-yard hook-up between Dirks to Matt Meyer again.
Hillsboro came out a different team the second half, holding the Wildcats to one of four three-and-outs their first drive.
The Trojans nearly put it in the end zone again their 10th drive of the game, only to once again cough up the ball.
"At times we really moved the ball well," said McEwen. "A few little tune ups and we'll be just be fine. I believe in the guys, and I really think they see the same things I see. It's there, we just need to get all the pieces put together."
Hillsboro returns to action Friday night at 7 p.m. when it hosts the graduation-depleted Nickerson Panthers at Reimer Field.
A team that bumped the Trojans a year ago, the Panthers are down quite some in numbers, but still return experienced skill position players.
