Hillsboro scores 6 touchdowns in win over Goshen

HILLSBORO — For the second consecutive week at Richards Memorial Field, the Hillsboro Indians were ringing the victory bell. This time, the Indians had five players score touchdowns en route to a 41-25 non-conference win over the Goshen Warriors. 

The Indians (2-0) led 28-6 at halftime, and following a tough third quarter for a second consecutive week, Hillsboro got back on track with two more touchdowns in the second half to seal the win.

This week, the Indians were led with a big rushing performance by Collin Swackhamer, who on 12 carries finished with 167 yards and two touchdowns, with the second of his two touchdown runs going for 65 yards. 

Tre Captain, who was the HHS leading rusher in Week 1, finished Week 2 with 12 carries for 72 yards and one touchdown, plus he had one reception. 

HHS also had Jeven Hochschul finish with seven carries for 60 yards and one touchdown and one reception for 26 yards. Jack Cornele totaled 12 carries for 53 yards as the fullback also had one touchdown. Quarterback Mason Dumpert finished with eight carries for 37 yards and one touchdown, plus he was 4-of-6 passing for 62 yards. 

Overall, the Indians finished with 451 yards of offense, with 389 rushing yards and 62 passing yards, with six total touchdowns. 

“We knew that was a good football team. We saw their film from Week 1 and they beat Monroe, and Goshen has a lot of talent, their running back is really good,” Hillsboro head coach Nathan Horne said. “Offensively, it was a little bit different than last week. We had different guys and a few different plays. They (GHS) were taking away our outside game, so there was a lot of off tackle stuff and that is just the way it is.

“One week somebody has a great game and they will take that part of the offense away. We got somebody else, and we are blessed to have a talented backfield where we can do that. As the weeks go by and people get you on tape, they are going to adjust to certain things, and you have to have some of those things in the back of your mind. That is just the game you play, and it’s a part of it. 

“I thought our kids responded well,” Horne continued. Again, we had the lull in the third quarter and I don’t know what’s going on there, but they gutted it out and we turned it around with two good drives in the fourth quarter. We got the fullback established. That opened up our counter game, and we really hadn’t done that in a couple years, so I was excited to get that fullback established, because when we do that, all kinds of things open up for us.”

Defensively, the Indians finished with six sacks as Landon Jordan and Jordan Lowe each had two sacks, while Malachi Aber and John Deans each had one. 

Aber and Swackhamer led the Indians in tackles with eight apiece. Aber totaled seven assisted tackles and one solo tackle, plus the aforementioned sack. Swackhamer’s eight tackles consisted of four solo and four assisted tackles. 

JaHari Pitts was next with six tackles, including five assisted tackles and one solo tackle. Deans also had six tackles (four solo) and a tackle for loss.

Finishing with four tackles each were Hochstuhl and Kaiden Robbins. With three tackles were Jordan, Landon Holland, Shawn Hottinger and Lowe. Totaling two tackles apiece were Brown and Captain, and with one tackle were Braylon Mays, Jack Cornele, Foster Britton and Malaki Kelly. Hochstuhl finished with a pass deflection, and Conner Yochum had a forced fumble. 

“Hats off to the defense. Hats off to Malachi Aber at mike linebacker, who played his tail off today,” Horne said. 

The Indians’ offense received the football first, and they didn’t disappoint, putting together a nine-play, 65-yard drive that included six run plays to begin the drive as runs by Cornele, Captain and Hochstuhl put the ball on the Goshen 30-yard line for a second-and-2 play. 

That play turned into a 29-yard pass from Dumpert to Zack Brown, taking the Indians to the 1-yard line and first-and-goal. The next play, Cornele powered his way to the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown run with 8:21 left in the first quarter. The PAT by Cooper Swope was good, putting the Indians in front by a 7-0 score. 

After Hillsboro’s defense forced a three-and-out, HHS, once again, put together a strong drive, this time starting on the Goshen 46-yard line and with runs that 43 yards, including a 15-yard rush by Captain and a 13-yard run on a QB keeper by Dumpert left the Indians with a first-and-goal play from the 3-yard line. 

That play resulted in a 3-yard power run by Swackhamer for a touchdown with 3:50 left in the first quarter, Swope made the PAT for a 14-0 HHS lead. 

Again, the Indians’ defense forced a three-and-out by Goshen (1-1), and though the Indians lost the football on a fumble, the defense of the Indians rallied with a third consecutive three-and-out, holding the Warriors to a total of seven combined yards in their first three possessions. 

When HHS regained possession of the ball, it was Swackhamer rushing 65 yards, taking the ball from the HHS 25-yard line to the Goshen 10-yard line for first-and-goal. 

Three plays later, Dumpert was standing in the end zone with a 4-yard touchdown run with 10:36 left in the second quarter. Swope made his three straight PAT for a 21-0 Indians lead. 

Hillsboro’s defense kept the Warriors from gaining a first down, forcing a fourth punt, then each team exchanged punts again, but when HHS took back over on offense with 4:27 left in the second quarter, they eventually scored their fourth touchdown of the first half. 

Hillsboro started their fourth scoring drive from their own 26-yard line, and after two plays resulted in nine total yards, Swackhamer raced to the end zone on the third play of the drive with a 65-yard score on third-and-1 with 3:04 left in the second quarter. Swope made his fourth extra-point kick for a 28-0 Hillsboro lead. 

“Collin ran really hard,” Horne said. “He’s a great kid, and he played his tail off on defense as well. He had a great game. He had some big runs, but it is the small ones that you won’t see on the stat page that get the chains moving, and that sets up all our counter game and everything evolves around that.”

Goshen scored their first touchdown of the game with 25.9 left in the second quarter when a pass from Caden Slusher to Levi Jackson for six yards on second-and-goal gave the Warriors six points. They made the PAT, leaving the score 28-7, as that score stood when halftime arrived. 

The third quarter wasn’t the best for Hillsboro, and Goshen jumped on the opportunity, scoring six points on the first drive of the second half. The touchdown came on a third-and-7 play for a 25-yard score as the touchdown pass was a Slusher pass to Jomar Berg with 8:22 on the scoreboard. They missed on the PAT for a 28-13 score. 

The Indians punted the ball on their next possession, and Goshen reached the end zone for the second time in the third quarter, this time in a 20-yard run by Gage Coroley with 4:27 left in the quarter, Goshen went for a 2-point conversion, but it was an incomplete pass attempt, leaving the score 28-19 as HHS held a nine-point lead. 

Later in the third and into the fourth quarter, Hillsboro got back in sync on offense as an 11-yard catch by Brown off a pass by Dumpert kept the drive going. 

Hillsboro then used plays from Dumpert, Hochstuhl, Captain and Swackhamer, including a 17-yard reception by Hochstuhl off a pass from Dumpert, plus rushes of 10 and 11 yards by Captain, that eventually led to a third-and-goal play from the 3-yard line. 

Captain capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with 6:24 left in the quarter. The PAT by Swope was good, putting HHS in front by 16 points at 35-19. 

HHS had one final touchdown left to score, and it came on a second-and-4 play with a 34-yard rushing touchdown by Hochstuhl with 2:26 left in regulation. The PAT was no good, putting the Indians’ lead at 41-19. 

Goshen scored the final touchdown of the game when Slusher found Berg for a 25-yard pass for the score with 42.7 on the scoreboard. The 2-point conversion attempt failed for a final score of 41-25. 

Hillsboro (2-0) will play on the road for the first time in ’25 in Week 3 as their next game on Friday, Sept. 5 will see HHS travel to face the Portsmouth West Senators (1-1) at 7 p.m. Portsmouth West lost in Week 2 by a 13-12 score against the Portsmouth Trojans. 

 
BOX SCORE
GHS    00 07 12 06 — 25
HHS    14 14 00 13 — 41