HMS football team hosts Nickerson
The Hillsboro Middle School football teams hosted the Nickerson Panthers last Thursday in Hillsboro.
In the eighth grade game, Hillsboro was defeated 36-8.
According to head coach Darrel Knoll, Austin Hamm set up the team's fourth quarter touchdown with a 30-yard run followed up by a 12-yard touchdown run. Jost then connected with Mitchell Koop for the two-point conversion.
Nickerson scored 14 in the first quarter, eight in the second, and 14 in the third.
"Nickerson is a tough team with a couple of big backs who run well," Knoll said. "We didn't do as well as I would have liked to see making tackles, understanding responsibilities, and swarming to the ball.
"Fortunately, all of those problems are correctable," he said. "We will need to get more aggressive on both sides of the ball."
Knoll said that Daniel Roble and Austin Hamm played really hard all night and had good games.
Roble finished with five tackles, four assists, and caused one fumble. Hamm had 103 yards on nine carries and had two tackles with four assists.
In the seventh grade game, Hillsboro won 6-0.
Daniel Jost connected with Clay Shewey for a 22-yard touchdown pass with just 1:23 left in the game to give the Trojans a 6-0 win.
According to Knoll, earlier in the drive, Jost hit Shewey for a 28-yard gain, which set up the winning play.
Jost finished the game 2-4 for 50 yards and one touchdown. Tyler Jones led all tacklers with six tackles.
"The seventh grade team played well, considering it was their first game," Knoll said. "We had only one penalty and were able to hold Nickerson scoreless."
"It was also encouraging that we competed until the end of the game," he said. "It was an exciting way to start the season."
The teams will compete today at 4:30 against the Sterling Black Bears in Sterling.
