MT. ORAB – The belief in sports that every second counts has never been truer than in the 2024 season opener for the Hillsboro Indians.

With 4:02 minutes left in the fourth quarter against the Western Brown Broncos, the Indians regained a four-point lead over the host Broncos on Friday night thanks to an 80-yard touchdown run by Cam Smart and a PAT by Wesley Bailey.

That left the home team at Kibler Stadium with too much time on the clock, as the Broncos used all but two seconds of the clock to score the game-winning touchdown. They covered 81 yards in 17 plays and defeated the Indians 42-39, giving the Broncos their fifth straight win over Hillsboro.

“That hurt…that hurt,” HHS head coach Nathan Horne said. “We thought it might come down to the team that had the ball last. You hate to score a lot of points quickly, and you don’t tell a kid not to score points. We made some mistakes on special teams and stuff, and that hurt us.”

“I thought the guys played hard. We didn’t get it when we were in the red zone and we tried to kick a field goal, but, you know, they (WBHS) don’t blow the punt, we don’t get that chance, but we should have capitalized on it and we didn’t.”

As exciting and heartbreaking as the final moments of the game were for the Indians, both teams showed strong offense in all four quarters to start the season. The score at the end of the first quarter was 14-13 for WBHS, followed by a halftime score of 25-14 with the Indians in the lead. Even as the third quarter came to a close, the Indians were ahead 32-27 as the two teams combined for 59 points after three quarters.

In total, the two teams combined for 81 points and 989 yards of offense, with Western Brown totaling 578 yards and the Indians totaling 411 yards.

For the Indians, Smart had ten runs for 105 yards and one touchdown, while Jeven Hochstuhl had a total of six runs for 87 yards and two scores and received one pass for 94 yards for a touchdown.

For HHS, Ryan Burns also totaled three runs for 52 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Mason Dumpert ran the ball seven times for 51 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, Dumpert was one of two passes for 94 yards and a TD pass. Tre Captain for the Indians totaled three runs for 22 yards.

“Our offense ran smoothly for the most part,” Horne said. “A few drives stalled here and there, but we had some great plays today. We spread the ball around. Jeven had a good run. Dom had a good run and Ryan Burns had a good run. Mason had a good run. We had all kinds of guys making long runs to score for us. I’m proud of the guys and proud of how they worked. I guess that’s part of life. Things don’t always go the way you want them to.”

The Indians were the first to strike with a touchdown on their first drive of the season. The first drive started with a 20-yard run by Hochstuhl, then a four-yard run by Burns and a 21-yard run by Captain outside for a first down that took the ball to the WB 15-yard line. From there, Dumpert ran five yards, and on second down, Hochstuhl ran 10 yards into the end zone for six points with 10:27 left in the first quarter. The PAT was no good, giving HHS a 6-0 lead.

The Broncos answered with a touchdown on their first drive of the season, putting together a 74-yard drive that culminated in a 16-yard run by quarterback Brady Sutton, followed by a 13-yard pass from Sutton to Justin Morgan for a first down. Later in the 14-play drive, Sutton found Brayden Harmon on an 11-yard pass, moving the ball to the Indians’ 22-yard line.

On third down, the Broncos used a screen pass from Sutton to Lucas Powell for a 15-yard gain and two plays later they reached the end zone with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Sutton to Tye Spaulding with 5:28 left in the first quarter. Camdyn Cunningham made the PAT and the Broncos took a 7-6 lead.

The Indians overcame a Broncos onside kick attempt and started their second drive of the 2024 season at the WBHS 49-yard line. The Indians did not let this excellent field position go to waste. After just two plays, the Indians were back in the end zone when Burns ran a 49-yard touchdown run, racing through the defense with 4:46 left in the first quarter. The PAT was converted by Wesley Bailey and gave the Indians a 13-7 lead.

Again, the Broncos had the answer to regain the lead. This time it was a 13-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard run by Sutton on second down and goal with 0.28 seconds left in the first quarter. The Broncos scored the touchdown and took a 14-13 lead.

HHS was penalized twice before the kickoff could be taken, allowing the Broncos to kick from the 50-yard line and the Indians to get to their own 16-yard line. Although HHS was eventually forced to punt, the punt itself was perfectly executed by Nic Burns: it landed at the 10-yard line and then rolled to the WBHS 2-yard line, putting them back in their own territory with 9:53 left in the second quarter.

As solid as Burns’ punt was, the Broncos’ offense overcame the field position it was given when a third-and-5 play ended at its own 9-yard line when WBHS was at the HHS 40-yard line when the Broncos’ Sutton found Powell for a 51-yard pass, with Powell running down the sideline for a first down. A 16-yard run by Sutton followed, but then it was Hillsboro’s defense that came up in a big way.

Hillsboro’s Jaiden Captain intercepted a pass from Sutton on third down at about the Indians’ 20-yard line and was finally stopped after running to the Broncos’ 21-yard line with 6:49 left in the second quarter.

Two plays later, the Indians were back in the lead after a 23-yard run by Hochstuhl for a touchdown with 6:07 left in the quarter. The PAT was not good, and the Indians were up five points, 19-14.

The Broncos’ subsequent drive ended with a second interception by the Indians in defense; with 3:10 minutes left in the second quarter, Shawn Hottinger made an interception at the Indians’ 5-yard line.

The most important play of the HHS offense came three plays later on third-and-9 at their own 6-yard line with a long pass from Dumpert to fellow junior Hochstuhl that resulted in a 94-yard touchdown with 1:28 left in the first quarter and a 25-14 lead that lasted until halftime.

In the second half, the Broncos repeated their performance from last season, not focusing as much on the passing game but instead using their rush offense to get back into the game.

The first drive of the third quarter began with 12:00 on the clock, and 15 plays later – most of them rushing plays – with 5:50 on the scoreboard, the Broncos were gnawing at the HHS defense, with no play going longer than 16 yards. But they capped the drive with a 3-yard run with 5:50 left in the third quarter and a scored PAT, shrinking the Indians’ lead to four points at 25-21.

The Indians responded with a four-play drive and hit the jackpot when Dumpert scored a 39-yard touchdown run past a quarterback keeper with 4:08 left in the third quarter to extend Hillsboro’s lead to 32-21.

The 11-point lead did not last long, however, as 13 plays later, with 0.31 seconds left in the third quarter, a screen pass from Sutton to Spaulding brought in six points and reduced HHS’s lead to 32-27.

Hillsboro’s special teams made a great punt play with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter, with Ryan Burns forcing a fumble on the punt return that was recovered by HHS teammate Zack Brown at the WBHS 10-yard line.

With 7:59 minutes left in the final quarter, HHS attempted a 13-yard field goal, but the Broncos broke through the HHS players when Denver Ballou blocked the punt for Western Brown.

The scoring drive was never over for either team, as WBHS put together a 10-play drive that ended with a 32-yard touchdown run by Morgan, who broke tackles and smashed his way into the end zone with 4:15 left in regulation. The PAT put the Broncos back in the lead, 35-32.

The Indians needed just one play to regain the lead: Smart’s 80-yard run with 4:02 left. Bailey’s PAT was good and put the Indians ahead 39-35.

Then came Western Brown’s final drive and again they attacked the HHS defense with a mix of runs and some passes, but all the short yards and few passes gave the Broncos a third-and-10 play with six seconds left on the HHS 11-yard line.

The play consisted of an 11-yard pass from Sutton to Harmon, who was standing in the end zone and made the game-winning catch with two seconds left in the game. The PAT was ultimately converted and gave the Broncos a 42-39 lead.

HHS (0-1) is on the road for Week 2 action on Friday, August 31st, as they face the Goshen Warriors at 7 p.m. GHS (0-1) lost its season opener to Monroe 35-0 on Friday.

WBHS (1-0) is scheduled to play away at the Washington Blue Lions (0-1) in Week 2. Washington lost its Week 1 game against London 51-6 at LHS.

GAME NOTES: The Indians’ defensive stats included: Ryan Burns with 20 total tackles (10 unassisted) and a caused fumble … Collin Swackhammer finished with 20 total tackles (13 unassisted) … Dumpert had eight total tackles (five unassisted) … JaHari Pitts had eight total tackles (five unassisted) … Hochstuhl had eight total tackles (all unassisted) … Ian Fenner had six total tackles (three unassisted) … Jordan Lowe had five total tackles (three unassisted) … John Deans had five total tackles (two unassisted) … Landon Jordan had four total tackles (one unassisted) … Zack Brown had four total tackles (two unassisted) … Jaiden Captain finished with four total tackles (three unassisted) … Tre Captain had four unassisted tackles … Shawn Hottinger had four unassisted tackles … Kaiden Robbins had two tackles … Michael Burns had two unassisted tackles.

RESULT
HHS 13 12 07 07 — 39
WBHS 14 00 13 15 — 42

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