Patterson started by shredding North County for 241 yards on 36 carries and scoring four touchdowns in the Hawks’ 42-36 loss to North County in Bonne Terre on Oct. 4. He followed that performance in Friday’s Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division 27-12 home win by gashing De Soto for 235 yards on 43 carries and a pair of TDs.
“Whenever I first started this year, I didn’t think I’d even dress out (for varsity),” Patterson said. “I was a scout player. Without my offensive line, I wouldn’t be where I am today. If they don’t block for me, I wouldn’t be getting the yards I am.”
Looking like the efficient Hillsboro teams of 2016-2017, the Hawks took their opening drive 15 plays covering 74 yards. It was capped when Patterson ran the ball in from 4 yards out with 2:52 left in the first quarter. Tyler Watson ran in the two-point conversion to give Hillsboro an 8-0 lead.
The Hawks converted three third downs on the drive.
“He’s a freshman and a tough kid,” Hillsboro head coach Lee Freeman said of Patterson. “He does all of the leg work for us right now. And he’s got a good offensive line in front of him and a great fullback (John Bennett) in front of him. I am proud of our offensive coaches. Coach (Bill Sucharski) did a good job of calling the plays tonight. He came down from the press box and called the plays from the sideline tonight and the kids responded to that.”
With two freshmen in the backfield – Austin Romaine sat out the game with an injury –and so many sophomores playing, the Hawks have been guilty of some uneven play evidenced by their 3-4 overall record, but they are 3-1 in league games.
Only three or four seniors are on the field for them at any one time.
“That’s something that’s been possible all year,” Freeman said of his team’s performance against De Soto. “We’re a young team that misfires, but talking to the boys just now, sometimes the external noise is so loud you can’t hear. A lot of people have negative opinions about what we do and how we do it, but we’ve been able to ignore that and come to work every day and this is a great group to coach.”
The Dragons (4-3, 3-1) had a chance to win the MAFC Red outright, but with all of the teams in the conference having completed league play, the Hawks won the championship. De Soto was missing linebacker Dominic Punjani, also their leading running back, to an injury.
“This is what they do and what makes them miserable to play against,” De Soto head coach Chris Johnson said of the Hawks’ ground attack. “Kudos to Hillsboro. They were juiced up and we tried to hang in there as long as we could, but we had some guys banged up and the other guys played as well as they could. Hillsboro deserved to win the game tonight.
“Patterson hits the holes where he’s supposed to and runs downhill with speed.”
After De Soto punted late in the first quarter, a Hillsboro player touched the ball and the Dragons recovered it at the Hawks’ 43-yard line. De Soto senior quarterback Briar Fischer made Hillsboro pay with two passes covering 42 yards. The first completion was for 18 yards to his younger brother Levi, a junior. On fourth-and-9, Briar found Levi in the end zone for a 24-yard TD pass with 11:20 left in the second quarter.
Freshman kicker Ethan Patterson, who was filling in for an injured Bradley Hunt, missed the extra point and the Hawks maintained an 8-6 lead.
When Tyler Sizemore broke his hand against Windsor on Sept. 27, senior Austin Perez replaced him as Hillsboro’s signal caller. Perez returned the kick after De Soto’s touchdown 16 yards and the Hawks began their next scoring drive at their 41. Patterson ripped off a 36-yard gain and a play later Perez called his own number and scored from 15 yards. Patterson rushed in for two points and Hillsboro increased its lead to 16-6.
After the Hawks were called for a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff, the Dragons took over at the Hillsboro 45. Fischer tossed a 43-yard TD pass to junior John Whited on the second play of the possession, but the two-point conversion run failed and the Hawks led 16-12 with 7:33 to play in the half.
De Soto stuffed Patterson on fourth-and-1 to force a turnover on downs late in the first half. Then junior Gabriel King intercepted Fischer in the Hawks’ end zone to snuff out a promising drive by the Dragons. Hillsboro took over at its 20 with 1:10 left in the half and Patterson gained 20 yards on the first play. Watson gained 21 yards on third-and-1 and De Soto was called for a 15-yard personal foul at the end of the run. That set up kicker Mark Moore’s 33-yard field goal as time expired to give the Hawks a 19-12 lead.
Just like it did to start the game, Hillsboro opened the third by marching 15 plays into the red zone, but this time the Dragons stopped it and Moore missed a field goal from 28 yards. De Soto running back Kameren Brooks fumbled on the first play after the miss and Hillsboro junior lineman Hunter Yaeger recovered it. Bennett and Patterson took turns running the ball until Patterson scored from 3 yards and ran in the conversion for the game’s final points.
Junior Zach McNees had three sacks and the Hawks swarmed Fischer most of the night. Senior defensive lineman Aaron Brody had a fractured foot but returned to the Hawks’ lineup on defense, which held De Soto to 44 yards on the ground.
“I could not be more proud of our team defensively,” Freeman said. “This is the most complete game we’ve played this year from a defensive standpoint. Our defensive coaches got together, and it’s hard for me to call blitzes and pressures because that’s not how I coach, but tonight we brought a lot of pressure and that interrupted their timing, but they got us a couple times.
“Zach is a really talented defensive player and our line as a whole did well. Danny McCallister works really hard and does a lot of good things. Jordan Jarvis and Hunter Yeager got some pressure when we needed them to.”