Hillsboro drops road game against Goshen Warriors

GOSHEN — The Hillsboro Indians were unable to obtain their first win of the ’26 season in Week 2 on Friday night, as they continue to fight injuries from the previous week, but the Goshen Warriors continued from where they left off from their season opener, defeating the Indians 49-7 at Jim Brown Stadium. 

The win gives the Warriors a 2-0 mark to start the season for the first time since 2017. Before Friday’s loss, the Indians had won the previous three games against Goshen. Goshen finished Friday's game with 405 yards of offense. They were 8-of-11 passing for 167 yards, plus they added 21 rushes for 238 yards, averaging 11.3 yards per carry. 

The Indians (0-2) were without their starting quarterback, safety and team captain Collin Swackhamer in the game, as he was injured last Friday late in the first quarter against the Western Brown Broncos. 

As for the Warriors, last Friday they defeated their Week 1 opponent, Reading, by a 40-0 score. On Friday against the Indians, the Warriors led 35-7 at halftime, including a first quarter where they outscored the Indians, 21-0. Goshen has outscored their first two opponents, 89-7 this season. 

Hillsboro was led in rushing by senior Malachi Aber with six rushes for 87 yards, plus he collected one reception. Next was senior Braylon Mayes who had nine carries for 72 yards, plus he had two receptions for 20 yards. Junior Jonathan Malone totaled 15 carries for 63 yards, plus he added one reception for 12 yards. Also with a carry was freshman Jay’ontae Walters for eight yards. 

HHS senior Tre Captain, who previously played running back in Week 1, moved to quarterback in Week 2 due to Swackhamer’s injury. Captain unofficially rushed for 23 yards on 13 carries and was 6-of-9 passing for 67 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Four of Captain’s six completions were for 10-plus yards (19, 33, 12, 10) in his first start of the season. 

Hillsboro also had freshman Ryker Zink with two receptions for 35 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown. 

As for the victorious Goshen team, they scored a touchdown on their first possession of the game, using a six-play, 58-yard play drive to reach the end zone, with the touchdown coming on third-and-1 from the Indians’ 29-yard line where senior Gage Croley raced through the defense and straight to paydirt with 9:40 left in the opening quarter. The PAT by senior Levi Mason put the Warriors ahead 7-0. Corley finished 12 carries for 171 yards and two rushing scores. 

Hillsboro had some positive plays on offense in their first drive of the game, including runs by Malone for 5 and 15 yards. Next was a QB keeper run by Captain for three yards, then it was a shovel pass by Captain to Mayes for nine yards and a first down. 

Eventually the Indians had to punt from their own 39-yard line, and that turned into a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown by senior Cam Telinda with 6:10 left in the first. The PAT by Mason left the Warriors ahead by 14 points. Telinda ended the game with two receptions for 64 yards and two touchdowns.

Goshen added their third touchdown of the first quarter when they built a 55-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown with a pass by senior Caden Slusher to Telinda, making a diving catch in the end zone with 1:28 left in the first. After the PAT was good, the Warriors held a 21-0 lead. Slusher was 8-of-11 passing for 167 yards passing with four touchdown passes. 

Hillsboro was first to score in the second quarter as Captain found Zink for a 33-yard touchdown reception as Zink beat the coverage of the Warriors for the six points around the 7:35 mark. The PAT by senior Grant Shepard made the score 21-7. 

Goshen answered on the first play of the ensuing drive with a 54-yard touchdown reception by Telinda as he made the catch, cut across the field, then raced to the endzone for six points with 7:14 left in the second. Another PAT made by Mason left the Warriors in front by a 28-7 score. 

Later in the second, the Indians’ defense made a big-time play with senior Roman Hardy stripping the ball from the quarterback, and it was recovered by senior Kaiden Robbins with 4:34 left in the second. 

Goshen returned the favor on the following drive as they forced an Indians turnover with senior Jomar Berg recovering a fumble with 2:54 on the second-quarter clock. Goshen took full advantage of the turnover, scoring their fifth touchdown of the first half with 2:26 left in the second as Slusher found Berg for a 48-yard touchdown as he broke a tackle and ran down the sideline for the score. Mason’s PAT was good for a 35-7 score. 

Following their touchdown, the Warriors forced another turnover with Croley intercepting a pass at their own 5-yard line, keeping the Indians out of the endzone 57 seconds before the end of the first half, keeping their lead to 28 points as halftime arrived. 

The Indians’ longest drive of the game was at the start of the third quarter with a mix of the run and pass paying dividends for the Indians, as they took up just over 8:00 of game clock, even with the drive ending on the Warriors’ 25-yard line with a turnover on downs. 

The Indians’ time-taking drive had a run of seven yards by Mayes, a 6-yard run by Aber, an 11-yard run by Malone, and on a third down play there was a pass from Captain to Mayes for 12 yards. Malone then added a run, this time for eight yards. 

Goshen regained possession with 3:50 left in the third and scored a touchdown five plays later as Croley had a 46-yard run to the endzone on a second down play with 2:02 on the clock in the third quarter. Mason converted another PAT for a 42-7 lead. 

Goshen’s final score was a 43-yard catch by Levi Jackson off a shovel pass from Slusher with 9:04 left in regulation. Mason made his seventh PAT of the game for a 49-7 lead, as Mason was a perfect 7-of-7 in his extra-point attempts. 

Next for Hillsboro (0-2) is a third consecutive road game to start the ’26 season as they are scheduled to travel to face the Waynesville Spartans (2-0) of the Southwestern Buckeye League at Waynesville High School (Spartan Field) at 7 p.m. This season, Waynesville has defeated Clinton-Massie (20-17) and Greenview (28-14). 

(Editor’s Note: In a correction of last week’s game article, Hillsboro did have one pass attempt (0-for-1) in last Friday’s game at Western Brown. It was previously reported there were no passes attempted, as it was mentioned during a postgame radio interview following the Goshen game Friday night.)