You can always get better, football coaches tell their players. Even undefeated teams keep checklists of items to accomplish.
Hillsboro, though not unbeaten, has worked through a long to-do list and made notable progress Friday in defeating De Soto 34-19 to improve to 6-1 this fall.
Win on Homecoming? Check.
Beat one of your bigger rivals? Check.
Win a third consecutive championship in the Red Division of the Mississippi Area Football Conference with a 4-0 record? Check.
Play mistake-free football?
Uh, not quite.
The Hawks had to overcome a slew of fumbles, the occasional misfire on offense and a late De Soto uprising to put away the Dragons for the 10th straight time, including three victories in the postseason. The gang in green hasn’t beaten its Hwy. 21 neighbor to the north since a 41-13 decision at De Soto in 2010.
“I always say this: winning is hard,” Hillsboro head coach Lee Freeman said after his team came over to the stands to sing the alma mater with their fans. “You’re trying to get kids to do things and relying on 15- and 16-year-old boys. They’re human like everybody else. But our kids work hard and they do exactly what we ask them to do, and they believe in what they’re doing. And that pays off on nights like tonight.”
The Hawks seized the upper hand on the fifth play of the game when linebacker Joe Garner intercepted a Camron Krodinger pass over the middle and returned it to the De Soto 35-yard line. Four plays later, on fourth-and-1, Micheal Keller ran untouched off tackle for a 25-yard touchdown and a 6-0 Hillsboro lead.
De Soto responded with a long drive, however, pushing down to Hillsboro’s 17 on some good running by junior Jeremy Harman and three passes for 30 yards by quarterback Briar Fischer, two of the tosses going to Clayton Snudden. But the Dragons stalled there and Mayson DeRousse came on to try a field goal. The Dragons ran a fake instead but the run was stopped inches short of the first down.
With the momentum now swung their way, the Hawks ran an eight-play, 83-yard drive culminating in a 5-yard touchdown jaunt by senior Joe Gregory at 9:24 of the second quarter. The two-point conversion run was stopped to leave it 12-0 Hillsboro.
The teams traded possessions until the final minute of the first half, when Hillsboro took advantage of a short field to move to De Soto’s 27. But a false start penalty and two unsuccessful runs left the Hawks with fourth-and-9 at the 29. Hillsboro senior quarterback Tyler Isaacson rolled right with Dragon defenders in hot pursuit and at the last second spotted tight end Joe Marschuetz open in the near corner of the end zone. Isaacson flung the ball as Marschuetz dove to the turf and gathered it in for a touchdown.
“I don’t even know how to explain the feeling I had after that one,” Isaacson said. “I threw it up and prayed he’d run underneath it, being the athlete he is.”
Luke Skaggs ran in the 2-point conversion and the crowd cheered the Hawks’ 20-0 advantage at halftime.
Although the third quarter was scoreless, Hillsboro made it 26-0 barely a minute into the fourth on an 8-yard gallop by Garner around right end. Despite another failure on the 2-point conversion, the Hawks were clearly in command. But De Soto got on the board soon thereafter as Fischer connected with Snudden again for a 16-yard touchdown to cap a 65-yard drive. DeRousse booted the extra point to make it 26-7.
The senior kicker then sliced a perfect onside kick that De Soto recovered at Hillsboro’s 49. Eight plays later, Fischer found Krodinger on a crossing pattern from left to right for a 17-yard touchdown that shaved Hillsboro’s lead to 26-13 and had Hawk fans squirming in their seats.
It was time for Hillsboro’s patented running back-by-committee to take charge again, which it did after another Dragon onside kick attempt failed at midfield. Skaggs and Keller slashed and dashed down to the 2, where Skaggs did the honors on a TD burst, which was followed by a successful 2-point pass from Isaacson to Marschuetz to make it 34-13.
De Soto’s offense had one bullet left in its gun and Fischer fired it with 1:45 left in the game, lofting a deep pass to Logan Smith over the middle. Smith hauled it in and ran the last 30 yards to pay dirt for a 70-yard score, giving the visiting fans one last cause to cheer before the Hawks ran out the clock.
“We had a lot of calls that did not go our way tonight,” said De Soto head coach Chris Johnson, whose squad dipped to 3-4 overall and finished 1-3 in the MAFC Red. “It seemed like if there was a 50-50 call, 100 percent of the time it did not go our way.
“When you’re battling to the extent we’re battling, and doing everything you can, and yet every call seems to go against you, it does make it hard to keep going back out there. But I was proud of their effort. They did everything we asked them to do.
“We finally were able to do some things in the second half. Better field position was probably the biggest thing, and we got them (to) spread out. That was our original game plan coming in. We turned them over a couple of times, which was nice, but unfortunately it seemed like we were (at our) 5-yard line or the 10-yard line whenever we got the ball.”
Keller led Hillsboro’s ground game, which amassed 268 yards, with 109 yards on 14 carries.
Freeman was philosophical about his squad’s misfires, which could prove more costly against the team’s two remaining regular-season opponents, Poplar Bluff (7-0) and Mary Institute-Country Day School (5-2). He also noted the steady progress his rebuilt offensive line has made.
“The last two weeks they have grown, and seen some things that hopefully help prepare them for what they’re going to see next week,” the coach said. “If we can learn from (our) mistakes, that’s the key. If we just continue to make those mistakes, that’s not what we’re looking for. Time will tell.”
Sophomore QB returns to team
Austin Coale is back under center for Festus.
That means senior Chase Cole is back to doing what he does best on offense: catching the football.
“He’s our best receiver again,” Festus head coach Russ Schmidt said. “It was Senior Night and I couldn’t say enough about them.”
Coale completed 12 passes to six different receivers in the Tigers’ 35-21 comeback victory over visiting Pacific on Friday. He was suspended for the previous three games – the Tigers went 2-1 in that stretch – for disciplinary reasons.
Schmidt had said after the Tigers lost to Hillsboro on Sept. 8 that Coale had been suspended from the team for the rest of the season. On Monday, Schmidt said school district officials decided to reduce the suspension.
Coale played Monday in a junior varsity game to knock off the rust and threw an interception on his first pass against Windsor.
“He’s still a kid,” Schmidt said of the sophomore. “He came out and performed well (against Pacific), but his supporting cast did a tremendous job as well.”
Matt Strong gave the Indians a 21-14 lead with a 15-yard TD run with 10:44 left in the game. Strong already had gashed the Tigers for an 80-yard scoring scamper in the first half.
But senior running back Logan Uding scored three touchdowns for Festus in the fourth quarter, including two in the last minute of the game. The Tigers were aided in their comeback by RaShaun Hyde’s interception and a recovered kickoff by Cameron Meyer.
Uding gained 192 yards on 24 carries and he’s turned into the workhorse in the backfield the Tigers needed after Jordan Fiedler was suspended for three games, also for disciplinary problems. Schmidt said Fiedler would rejoin the team in Week 9 against Poplar Bluff.
Following Uding’s second TD of the fourth, Cole kicked off and Meyer recovered the ball about 30 yards from where it was kicked. Schmidt said it wasn’t an onside kick.
“That was great awareness on the part of Cameron,” Schmidt said. “The ball’s rolling around and nobody touched it and he recovered it with about a minute to play.”
Festus travels to Washington to play unbeaten St. Francis Borgia (7-0), which hasn’t scored fewer than 37 points in a game this season.
“We get the pleasure of playing an undefeated Borgia team,” Schmidt said tongue-in-cheek. “What a great chance for our kids. I like how our kids are playing right now. If you play physical against an opponent, you’ll win a football game.”
Graves has “night to remember”
When you’ve already rushed for more than 4,000 yards and already are your school’s career rushing leader, it takes a big game for it to be “a night to remember.”
But that was Jefferson head coach Alex Rouggly’s description of junior Andrew Graves’ performance in a 55-34 win over visiting Springfield Central on Friday. Graves torched the Bulldogs for five touchdowns and 305 yards on 19 carries. He tacked on 46 yards receiving.
The Blue Jays (5-2) hastily scheduled Central this season because I-55 Conference rival Grandview didn’t field a varsity team this season. Jefferson travels to Chaffee and St. Vincent for its last two games before the Class 2 District 1 tournament begins.
Graves is among the St. Louis-area leaders with 22 TDs and pushed over the 1,000-yard rushing barrier for the third straight season during Friday’s win. Teammates Tomaz Collins had 101 yards on 21 carries and Tanner Davis rushed 11 times for 64 yards and a pair of TDs.
The Blue Jay defense collected an interception from Colby Ott and fumble recovery from Eric Eisenbeis. Inside linebacker Dakota Jakoubek finished with seven solo tackles, including one for a loss.
Lancers subdue Indians in I-55 game
St. Pius X beat St. Vincent 61-25 on Friday in Perryville. It was the most points the Lancers had scored in a game since they notched 63 against Jefferson in 2014.
The Lancers improved to 3-4 overall and are 2-1 in the I-55 Conference with league games left against Crystal City and in Ste. Genevieve against Valle.
The Lancers had 561 total yards of offense; 365 yards on the ground. Seth Ervin led the ground assault with two touchdowns and 207 yards on 13 carries.
Quarterback Elliot Fischer completed 12 of 22 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Receivers Jalen Thornton (six catches for 98 yards and a TD) and Riley Naeger (four catches for 75 yards and two scores) were Fischer’s favorite targets.
St. Pius head coach Jerry Wood said the offensive line of Sam Whiteley, Jon Studyvin, Luke Comparato, Ryan Loveless and tight end Grant Viehman was key to the success.
St. Pius scored on special teams as well when Ben Breeze returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown.