Trojans wallop Nickerson
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
While the Trojans were making short work of Nickerson Friday night, their upcoming opponent, the Haven Wildcats, were being destroyed in Lindsborg by a recharged Smoky Valley Viking team.
The Trojans face the Wildcats at 7 p.m. Friday in Hillsboro.
Stopping the Wildcats consists of keeping their star utility man, Isiah Barfield under control. Smoky Valley kept Barfield in check, limiting him to 35 yards of receiving in a 50-6 blowout.
Reportedly already giving a verbal commitment to Mark Mangino at Kansas, Barfield is a threat whenever he's on the field, wherever he's lined up.
Team defense will be the biggest key in helping Hillsboro pick up the win along with blocking on the PATs.
Heading into the first game of the season, many questions are always waiting to be answered.
How are the players going to respond in the first game back? Will this season's team be better than last's? And how are the underclassmen going to react to varsity play?
For the Trojans Friday night in their home opener against the Nickerson Panthers, they weren't sure what to expect, both from their opponent, or what their transfer quarterback from Minneapolis, Spencer Brown, could do.
The Panthers had a fresh coach, and Brown's still getting used to Hillsboro's system.
The Trojans got a good indication of what Brown can do midway through the first quarter when he took off on a busted bootleg down the left sideline for a 65-yard touchdown.
Brown's touchdown started the beginning of a nightmare for the Panthers as Trojan coach Len Coryea was able to utilize underclassmen with Hillsboro waltzing past Nickerson, 40-0.
"I was a little worried," Coryea said. "I knew they (Panthers) were young and had a new coach and it was going to be tough on us.
"He's (Brown) pretty good, he's got good vision of the field and the offense moved. Everything clicked just right."
It didn't start out that way, when Nickerson's best shot at getting on the board came on the Trojans' first possession on a muffed punt.
The Panthers had their best field position of the game with Clay McConnell recovering the loose ball, starting at Hillsboro's 49.
A personal foul for its only first down of the half helped Nickerson get as close as the 35 before Josh Kenney dropped quarterback Mace Krol for a 13-yard loss to start the Panthers' uncanny trend of going three-and-out.
Then Brown busted loose on the ensuing series for Hillsboro's only drive from its own territory in the first half.
Coryea has been bragging about his offensive backfield, and against the Panthers, it showed what it could do, plowing through Nickerson for 240 yards on the ground with Brown running for a game-high 102 yards on five carries.
Five of the Trojans' six touchdowns came from the backfield with Lucas Hamm, Michael Suderman, Jacob Yoder, and Adam Dirks hitting paydirt.
"It showed we can put any back in there," Coryea said. "We've got anybody in the backfield and they all can run."
Yoder finished second to Brown with 56 yards on nine carries followed by Hamm and Dirks with four-for-42 and two-for-31, respectively.
Hillsboro's other first-half touchdown came with 7:58 remaining with Brown hitting Daniel Jost for a two-yard score.
The biggest sore spot for the Trojans came with blocking on the PATs where Tyler Kaufman was just two-of-four with two being blocked.
Still, the Trojans stayed firmly in control of the game, heading into the break with a commanding 33-0 lead.
Nickerson literally got nowhere, being held to a worthless yard of offense at halftime, and a paltry 65 overall with all but four coming from rushing the ball.
"It's been a long time," Coryea said of holding the Panthers to a meager yard. "Did I expect that? Yes. I didn't expect the first series the way it started (muffed punt) and I didn't expect us to have to go down to a fourth down on that first series. That I didn't expect, but did I expect that (outcome), yes.
"We've practiced real sharp. This was a big win for us."
Never making it past mid-field until 4:27 left in the third quarter, the best thing that happened for Nickerson came after Yoder punched it in from two with 8:37 left in the third to put the Trojans in front, 40-0.
With the margin being 35 points or larger, the clock continued to run to get it over with faster for the Panthers.
Nickerson got inside the Trojan 35, but were twice denied on fourth down.
