Hillsboro rolls Halstead, 28-7 years ago
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports Writer
HALSTEAD — The Hillsboro Trojans took a 14-7 lead at halftime and added two more touchdowns in the second half en route to a 28-7 Bi-district playoff victory over the Halstead Dragons on the loser's field Tuesday night.
The victory keeps the Trojans (7-3) in the state post season playoff race.
Even better, the win gives Hillsboro the home field advantage in Saturday's quarter-final contest against Cheney (9-1), which defeated Collegiate to move on.
Kickoff Saturday is at 7 p.m.
While the Trojans haven't played Cheney, they are acquainted with the Cardinal's coach; former Hillsboro coach Dustin McEwen.
After allowing an early touchdown, the Trojans (7-3) played scary-tough defense the rest of Halloween night against the Dragons (6-4).
At the same time, the Trojans rolled to more than 260 yards on the ground.
Michael Suderman and Jacob Yoder combined for nearly 200 yards rushing, and both had touchdowns.
Halstead first score came on a 64-yard run by speedy running back Justin Calvin with 7:15 left in the first quarter to give the Dragons an early 7-0 lead.
But Suderman scored a one-yard touchdown with 7:11 in the first half, to tie the game at 7-7. And Spencer Brown scored on a three-yard keeper with 2:04 left in the first half to give the Trojans a 14-7 lead.
In the third period, Yoder added a 47-yard touchdown. The two point conversion by Daniel Jost made the score 22-7 with 5:44 remaining in the third.
Brown threw a 16-yard pass to Aaron Stepanek with :19 left in the third quarter to put the final points on the board. The kick was short.
The kept the ball on the ground in the fourth quarter, running out the clock.
The last time Hillsboro got this far into the post-season was in 2003, when it was knocked out by Conway Springs in the quarterfinals.
Hillsboro made the playoffs for the first time in three years by defeating Remington, 42-0, this past Thursday.
The win moved Hillsboro into the Halloween night game at Halstead.
After playing spectator to the 3A playoffs for the last three years, this year's Trojan seniors vowed things were going to be different.
The Trojans stayed true to their word, by trampling the Broncos. After qualifying for his first playoff appearance in three years, Coryea said, "It feels like a tremendous weight off your shoulder."
Tuesday night in Halstead, Hillsboro played a rival that had been a regular game on the schedule for years. But this year, the two teams didn't meet in the regular season. Halstead had knocked off Sterling in its Thursday night game, to set up a battle between the two 6-3 teams.
One senior Trojan who'd promised they'd make the playoffs was tailback Michael Suderman. He was a one-man wrecking crew against Remington, scoring three touchdowns on a career-high 194 yards, 101 of them in the first half.
"Is that all?" Coryea said. "That's a great game! Suderman was running hard tonight."
The onslaught started on Hillsboro's first possession, when quarterback Spencer Brown took a 60-yard run down the Bronco sideline. Coryea had well prepared his defense to defend against Remington's potent passing game, and the Trojans were helped by a gusty north wind that made passing a chore.
Lucas Hamm recovered a Remington fumble, then made a leaping catch to set up Suderman's first touchdown from 10-yards to make it 14-0 with 2:47 left in the first half.
Moments later, with the wind at his back, Brown fired a four-yard bullet to Jacob Yoder to put Hillsboro up 20-0 at halftime. While Remington had lost only one game going into the contest (to Hesston), its wins came against much easier competition than Hillsboro.
In the second half, Suderman added two more touchdowns and reserve Tyler Jones had another, and the Trojans were on their way to the playoffs.
