After winning 18 games the last two seasons and reaching the Class 4 quarterfinals last fall, the Hillsboro football team has had its way on the gridiron more times than not.
With basically all new skill players getting their first taste as starters in the season opener on Aug. 24 at Sullivan, the Hawks looked eerily familiar in a 30-17 victory over the Eagles.
But that wasn’t the case Friday night at St. Charles West. Hillsboro covered about 200 miles round trip in its first two games and had a blowout at Steve Stahl Stadium in a 30-14 defeat at the hands of the Warriors, who play in the Gateway Athletic Conference.
“They were the better football team tonight and unfortunately that’s a lesson we’re going to have to learn with our youth right now,” Hillsboro head coach Lee Freeman said. “They’re going to have to grow up in a hurry if they’re going to be competitive.”
Trailing 27-0 in the third quarter, sophomore Dylan Dace got the Hawks on the board with a 5-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion run failed and the Warriors led 27-6.
Sophomore Cody Smith scored Hillsboro’s other TD on a 3-yard run with 58 seconds left in the game.
Sophomore Dominic Flint sparked West’s offense all night and after he returned the game’s opening kickoff to midfield, the Warriors used eight plays to cover that distance. Senior running back Joey Echele finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge with 7:45 left in the first quarter. West quarterback-kicker Clark Henderson made the PAT for a 7-0 lead.
Starting at about midfield on their second possession, the Warriors made short work of the Hillsboro defense that concluded with an 18-yard scoring strike from Henderson to senior tight end Nick Napoli. Henderson got the Hawks to bite on the play-action fake all night. Henderson booted his second point after and the Warriors led 14-0 with 1:34 left in the first.
West lost 21-14 St. Dominic to open the season. Head coach Gary Strauss told his players they had to be more physical against the Hawks.
“Last week I was very disappointed with our intensity level and our pad level was way too high,” Strauss said. “We told our kids all week after watching Hillsboro on film, if we play the same way, it’s going to be ugly. (Hillsboro) is physical up front and if you stand up first, you’re going to go backward.”
Napoli caught a 5-yard scoring pass from Henderson on another play action with 14 seconds left in the half, Henderson missed the PAT and the Warriors led 20-0 at the break. Echele had his second TD run (3 yards) with 7:40 to go in the third, then Henderson kicked a 27-yard field goal with 6:14 to play in the game.
Henderson’s three points was arranged in part by Flint’s darting, spinning, ankle-twisting 43-yard run that had the Hawks grasping at air.
“He’s very quick. He was our freshman quarterback last year and we moved him to halfback and cornerback and he’s done a great job,” Strauss said.
Six Hawks – Dace, Smith, quarterback Ethan Eckrich, Isaac Hamilton, Tyler Sizemore and Hayden Voyles – gained 195 yards on the ground. But Eckrich was under heavy pressure from the Warriors the entire game and took a 14-yard sack from West junior Trevor Turner right before Flint’s big run.
Among other areas of concern for Freeman is the play at defensive end. Both sides collapsed on the play-action fakes. The linebacking corps has also been rebuilt.
“We know that’s an area we’re going to struggle to compete in because we lost a lot of kids there,” Freeman said. “You can’t quit coaching it. You’ve got to coach harder and hope the kids keep competing.”
Being pushed around isn’t something Freeman has seen at Hillsboro in some time.
“It’s been quite some time and that’s what happens when you have inexperience and it’s also what you get when you’re not very physical.” he said.
The Hawks finally come home next Friday when Farmington comes calling with a record of 2-0. The Knights rolled up North County 48-22 in Bonne Terre on Friday night. Farmington is sure to remember last year’s 48-42 loss to Hillsboro in the district semifinals.
OTHER COUNTY SCORES: Kelly 31, Crystal City 0; Festus 20, Sullivan 13; Fox 37, Lindbergh 7; Fredericktown 26, Herculaneum 12; Jefferson 57, Roosevelt 19; Northwest 7, Parkway South 3; Seckman 47, Windsor 14; Mehlville 52, De Soto 22