Trojans stay perfect by whipping Wildcats
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Trojan football coach Len Coryea has got to be loving every minute of it.
For the first time since 1999, Hillsboro has opened the season at 2-0, after disposing of the Haven Wildcats Friday night, 48-6, in Hillsboro.
That looks good, but heading into a "measuring stick game" Friday night at Wichita Collegiate, a place the Trojans haven't won since 1998, it doesn't matter much.
The two teams Hillsboro has pounded are a combined 0-4 despite Nickerson knocking off fourth-ranked Hesston, 17-0, Friday.
Hesston crushed Collegiate in week one, but only beat the Panthers 17-0, while the Trojans shut out Nickerson, 40-0.
The Spartans are fresh off a big win, soundly beating a good Smoky Valley team, 21-6, and Coryea has yet to beat the Spartans.
"We had to go 2-0 heading into Collegiate," he said. "That's our big game right now."
Coryea wasn't about to let his team think about the Spartans Friday night facing threatening utility man Isiah Barfield and the Wildcats.
Plug Barfield in anywhere, big things could happen.
They never did, though, as Hillsboro once again had its second opponent in a chokehold by halftime, up 34-0.
Through two seasons under Coryea, offense has been pretty hard to come by.
Suddenly, with the addition of a dangerous quarterback Spencer Brown, and a powerful backfield, nobody's been able to last one-half against Hillsboro.
Much like Barfield, stick anybody in the Trojan backfield, sparks could fly.
Michael Suderman got his crack at wreaking havoc on the Wildcats.
He nearly beat Haven single-handedly, rushing 11 times for a game-high 107 yards and three touchdowns while the Trojan defense held the Wildcats to 110 yards.
Hillsboro pounded out 340 yards on the ground for 413 yards overall.
Two of Suderman's runs, the biggest, a 21-yarder, had Haven down 13-0 with 3:39 still left in the first quarter.
The only thing so far that's been able to stop the Trojans have been themselves with penalties squelching opportunities.
It could've been worse yet, had Jacob Yoder's punt return deep into Haven territory hadn't been wiped out by a Trojan-clip.
Lucas Hamm had a TD called back before he took another shot, plunging up the middle from the 22.
But Hamm lost the ball just before he reached the end zone.
Guard Tyler Kaufman recovered the fumble and cleared the goal line for a two-yard score.
It wouldn't be a rout without Brown, and the transfer had his share in the blowout, too.
Brown aired it out for Troy Frick for a 43-yard touchdown catch, but it was waived off for holding, bringing up third-and-25.
This time, Brown kept the ball himself, shedding two Wildcat defenders before getting away for a 68-yard TD run.
He then hooked up with Hamm for a two-point conversion to push the Trojan lead to 27-0 with 7:10 left in the first half.
Suderman's final touchdown, a 10-yard run, helped Hillsboro steamroll their way to 281 yards rushing by halftime.
Defensively, even with Barfield, the Wildcats did minimal damage, being held to 35 yards going in at the half.
Trojan secondary Aaron Stepanek had a big role in that, picking off two Wildcat passes to set up scoring opportunities.
His second helped set up a 17-yard run for Brown, which made it a 41-0 game after Kaufman kicked the PAT.
Adam Dirks finished the scoring, barreling in from the one in the waning moments of the third quarter.
The backfield turned in another balanced performance with Hamm carrying five times for 76 yards, along with a game-high four catches for 54 yards.
Yoder had eight-for-59 with Dirks adding 34 on four carries.
"We ran the ball so well tonight," Coryea said. "We got some good fakes.
"I thought we hit pretty hard again tonight. Dirks and Hamm pummeled that kid (Haven quarterback Byron Nienstedt) tonight."
Kaufman's point after bounced off the bar, but bounced through for the 48-0 lead with 3:12 left in the third and the 35-point continuous clock in effect for Haven.
Hillsboro finally gave up its first points of the year with 2:20 left in the game as Nienstedt hit Travis Petersheim for a 10-yard touchdown against Trojan reserves.
Barfield was never a factor despite supplying 64 of Haven's 110 total yards with 39 coming on the ground.
"We've just got to keep getting better," said Coryea. "I thought we were better this week, blocking."
Hillsboro faces the Spartans Friday in a 7 p.m. kickoff.
