Trojans march on after upsetting Cheney in overtime
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The heart-stopping Hillsboro Trojans, still very much alive after last week's victory over Cheney, will travel Friday to Salina for a 7 p.m. game against the Sacred Heart Knights at Salina Stadium.
At stake will be the quarterfinal title and a trip to the Class 3A state football semifinals — "The Final Four."
On Saturday, the Trojans (8-3) came from behind in overtime to nip Cheney (9-2), 8-7, in one of the most dramatic games in school history.
In a brutal defensive battle, the Trojans made the key plays at the right time to keep the season alive and make it as far as Hillsboro has made it in 20 years.
Which means none of this year's Trojan team was alive the last time Hillsboro played past the bi-district round of the 3A football playoffs.
Don Penner was the head coach, and current Trojan coach Len Coryea had just finished coaching the Hillsboro Middle School.
Versatile quarterback Kendall Heide captained the Trojans within two games of Hillsboro's first-ever state final in football.
That Trojan team was derailed 36-0 in the semifinals by eventual 3A state champion and perennial juggernaut Smith Center, but not before getting past the Knights.
Sacred Heart also pulled off an upset Saturday, edging high-powered Hoisington, 48-45.
From 1998 to 2003, former coach Dustin McEwen led the Trojans to six straight postseason appearances, but never advanced past the second round.
The last time McEwen coached a postseason game that went into overtime, the Trojans dropped a 14-13 heartbreaker to Beloit.
On Saturday, McEwen was back in town, this time, coaching the Cardinals.
Making his first postseason appearance in three years at Cheney, McEwen's overtime luck with Hillsboro had yet to change.
High school overtime is started with both teams getting the ball at the 10-yard line and electing to defend first is generally the best way to start.
After forcing overtime with neither the Cardinals nor the Trojans finding the end zone all night, the bruising Garrett Nickel put Cheney in front 7-0 with a one-yard run to leave Hillsboro four shots at keeping its dream season alive.
Senior wide receiver Brett McIntosh has made some plays this season, but nothing compared to the third-and-seven catch from Spencer Brown to get Hillsboro on the board, 7-6.
A kicked extra point would send the game into another overtime while a two-point conversion would bring one of the biggest upsets in Hillsboro history.
Haunted by inconsistency on extra point attempts, the Trojan players elected to go for the win with a two-point conversion.
Brown rolled right with Nickel wrapped around the Trojan quarterback's legs.
Just before going down, Brown lobbed a short pass to Jacob Yoder in the end zone, making Hillsboro history and giving both Trojan fans and Coryea a near heart attack.
"It was a pass-run option," Brown said of the dramatic play. "Everybody was telling me to run, but 44 (Nickel) made a great play and just ate me up.
"My halfback (Yoder) made a good heads-up play and stepped right in front of me and said 'hey Spencer' so I flipped it up. I heard his voice and saw him open."
Hillsboro stymied the Cardinals punishing ground game led by the trio of the 6-4 235-pound Nickel, Kurt Lehner, and the slippery Chase Williams.
Williams carried the ball 15 times for a game-high 100 yards, and Nickel added 86 more yards.
The Trojan defense, as usual spearheaded by Lucas Hamm's 12 solo tackles, was up for the challenge, twice turning Cheney away inside the Hillsboro 20, including a goal line stand to end the third quarter.
Hillsboro could have had the game won in regulation, but Brown's eight-yard touchdown run with 4:19 left in the first half on third-and-goal was waived off by a holding call.
Lehner intercepted Brown's ensuing pass, leaving the Trojans nothing to show for having the ball at the Cardinals' six.
Daniel Jost, who returned a Brent Coykendall interception 59 yards, made the scoring threat possible.
"We should've won the game in the second quarter, we outplayed them twice and the referees called everything on us," Coryea. "They (Cheney) were getting a lot of momentum going and their size was starting to push on us."
Cheney also had a shot to win with four seconds left as kicker Josh Spring attempted a 27-yard field goal.
Coryea used his last two timeouts to freeze Spring and it worked with Spring's kick just missing the uprights to send the game to overtime.
"The boys called for two so I said you guys get quiet for a minute and let me talk to the coaches," an ecstatic Coryea said of going for the win. "We've never run that play all year, we put it in one night just messing around, it's a run-sweep pass and it gives us a lot of options.
"You've got a kid like Spencer and you've got guys that can catch the ball like Troy Frick so you've got to cover them. Jake just stepped in and everybody was there, I thought 'holy cow', we ran out of room."
