Sad to see McEwen bid HHS farewell
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
I am certain I was not the only one shell-shocked to learn that after seven seasons as head Trojan football coach, Dustin McEwen would resign to move on.
The rumors had been circulating for weeks, and finally last week, McEwen let the cat out of the bag, announcing he is headed to Cheney.
That hits Hillsboro perhaps as hard as Conway Springs' Mark Bliss darting for Florida and Derby's Tom Young shipping to Leavenworth.
Both Bliss and Young were among the state's premier coaches.
When a life revolves much around sports, seeing coaches come and go is as common as the day turning to night.
It's never easy watching the favorites leave.
I do admit I cried watching one of college football's greatest coaches, Nebraska's Tom Osborne's final game.
Roy Williams' leaving Kansas basketball stayed tender only until the new season began.
Although this may come as a huge surprise to many, I would be as sad to see Bill Snyder leave K-State.
Staying close to home, McEwen is the third coach Hillsboro will certainly miss.
The first was former Trojan baseball coach Phil Oelke. Then came the man who got Tabor football back on radar, Tim McCarty.
Don't expect McCarty's replacement, Mike Gardner, to let the Bluejays fall off the screen.
I clearly remember my first conversation with McEwen after learning he had taken over for a legendary coach in his own right, Don Penner.
When asked if he was going to turn the Hillsboro program around, "we've got a lot of work to do," was his response.
Striving to get Hillsboro a community as equal to football as it is basketball as he could, McEwen set a good tone.
The rifleman from Norton/Fort Hays State right away scrapped an outdated run-based offense, installing something the Trojan program lacked during the Penner years — a passing game.
Despite getting knocked out in districts by state-ranked Marion, Hillsboro football was reappearing on the map for the first time since 1991.
Never enduring a losing season, it was his second year when McEwen's success really took off.
Behind the arm of gunslinger Joe Woods and his favorite target Tyson Ratzlaff, along with the elusive ground attack of CJ Hill, Hillsboro ended a seven-year absence from the 3A playoffs.
Playing for a state title his junior year losing to Atchison, McEwen's first hopes for a title as a coach ended in an overtime loss to Beloit.
But his 1998 team was the first of five straight Trojan teams that made it past district play, serving foes notice of McEwen's explosive offense.
It also was the 1998 team which laid the foundation for something Hillsboro had never had before — its first of four consecutive players to make the Shrine Bowl with Chad Duerksen.
The 1999 team enjoyed a good regular season before being upended by semi-finalist Wichita Collegiate in the quarter-finals.
Sadly, the 1999 quarter-final game marked the deepest into November Hillsboro ever played.
Under McEwen's guidance, Ratzlaff ended his high school career as arguably the greatest receiver in both Hillsboro and Tabor history and the second Trojan to be selected to the Shrine Bowl.
In 2000, the names of Ratzlaff and Hill gave way to another Trojan standout, Jeremy Loewen.
As Hillsboro's third straight Shrine Bowler, Loewen and the Trojans were chased out in bi-districts that year by an ever-occurring nuisance, Riley County.
The Trojans crushed the Falcons a year earlier in bi-districts, making football the final of four sports for which Riley County has been a rival.
A Shrine Bowl assistant the year before with Ratzlaff on his team, McEwen called the plays for Loewen's final high school game.
Hillsboro again was knocked out in the first round in 2001 by the Minneapolis Lions, marking the ending for Layne Frick, Ross Duerksen, Ronnie Davis, and Adam Woods, the Trojans' final Shrine Bowler.
The 2002 season was a Christmas gift come early for Hillsboro when a new playoff format was introduced, allowing the top two teams from districts to make the post-season.
Losing three games by a total of five points, Hillsboro was a better team than its record indicated.
The Trojans couldn't stop Riley County standout Jordy Nelson, a migraine headache for Hillsboro in the bi-district game, but they did enough to set up the first of two meetings with the back-to-back state champion Conway Springs.
Steam rolling all its competition, the Cardinals had a harder time with the Trojans than indicated despite winning 28-7. Aware that McEwen's high powered offense could strike at any time, Bliss' Cardinals kept Hillsboro's offense on the sidelines with time consuming drives.
Hit hard by graduation, the Trojans again lost several games that were within range of winning in McEwen's final run.
Behind the big plays of Caleb Marsh, Daniel Deckert, and Kyle Jilka, Hillsboro still staggered into the post-season.
McEwen ended his Hillsboro tenure with an impressive 57-26 mark, guiding his team to his final win, again over Riley County.
En route to trampling their way to a third straight 3A title, the Cardinals again ruined McEwen's final bid to get the crown.
Shortly after the football season, he took over another head coaching job, taking over for one of 3A baseball's unsung heroes, Oelke.
In spite of having a young team, McEwen, like he always has, did about the best he could with the hand he had been dealt.
After seven seasons as a head football coach, McEwen will move back to an assistant coach for the Cheney Cardinals next season.
We should thank him for the years of good work he's given Trojan fans and wish the coach that put Hillsboro football back on the map and his family the best at Cheney.
