Steagall dominates in Hillsboro Rotary Bowl win

     GREENFIELD – It was a night to remember for Hillsboro running back Airic Steagall and the rest of the Hillsboro Indians as they finished their regular season at 8-2, with a 33-8 victory over cross-county rival McClain in the annual Rotary Bowl, at McClain Field, in Greenfield.

     This was the Indians' third straight Rotary Bowl win.

     The night belonged to Steagall as he carried the ball 21 times for 348 yards and four touchdowns against Hillsboro’s biggest rival. The senior running back had touchdown carries of 92, 63, 21 and 80 yards.

     “You feed the ball to seniors and Airic played hard the whole game,” Hillsboro head coach Brian Spicer said. “Our blocking was unbelievable. All of the guys played well.”

     The loss gives the Tigers an overall record of 4-6 on the season, 1-5 in the South Central Ohio League. HHS improves to 8-2 overall, 4-2 in the SCOL, second place in the league.

     “We had opportunities with the football, but it just kept bouncing off our fingers,” McClain head coach Randy Closson said. “We had two good drives in the first half, but we self destructed at times. Hillsboro did a nice job. They had big runs and then got a head of steam with their fast kids, and they are tough to bring down.”

     On McClain’s first drive of the game they were taking the ball toward the end zone, and gained a first down with an 18-yard run by junior Jared Loftis.

     Four plays later Hillsboro sophomore Chase Gilliland intercepted a pass on the HHS 8-yard line with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter.

     That was when Steagall gained his first touchdown of the game, carrying the ball 92 yards, going around the corner toward the Indians’ sideline, cutting up the middle of the field to pay dirt on the first play from scrimmage in the drive.

     On Hillsboro’s next offensive drive, it was the McClain defense that set the tone when Kameron Mace recovered a fumble forced by Thorne Hester at the 9:50 mark of the second quarter.

     After the Tigers had no luck on three plays, things bounced their way when they recovered a punt, after the ball bounced off a HHS player at the Indians’ 24-yard line.

     But again the MHS offense wasn’t able to produce, and the Indians forced another turnover, recovering a fumble on their own 7-yard line.

     Again, it was defense that ruled for the Indians in the first half, when senior Dawson Barreras intercepted a pass, pulling the ball out of the air with one hand, with 46.5 seconds left the second quarter. HHS went for a trick play of sorts, with the pass by Ryan Grooms, for what would have been a touchdown, called back, as the throw was ruled an illegal forward pass.

     The HHS defense continued to keep the Tigers off the board at the start of the third quarter when senior Chester Akers led the Indians’ defense with two big defensive plays, forcing the Tigers to punt.

     McClain’s defense came back with a vengeance, forcing a fumble on a fourth-and-inches play on the MHS 36-yard line with 8:07 left in the third.

     Once the Indians regained possession of the ball with 5:51 left in the third, there was no stopping Steagall again, as he carried the ball 63 yards to the end zone, on third-and-7, untouched to give HHS a 12-0 lead.

     HHS regained possession of the ball with 2:46 left in the third quarter, capitalizing again, as they compiled a tedious 11-play, 52-yard drive which included a 12-yard dash by senior Patrick Garman and a 19-yard pass reception from junior quarterback Aric Carroll to sophomore Christian Wildey. The drive was capped off with a 6-yard run by Garman into the end zone with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter. Steagall passed to Garman for a 2-point conversion, making the score 20-0.

     Hillsboro junior Mason Hunick gave the Tribe the ball back with Hillsboro’s third interception of the game with exactly 8:00 minutes remaining in regulation.

     The Tigers reached the scoreboard with 5:53 left in regulation when junior Zach Matracia caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Cameron Cooper. The drive was kept alive when a pass from Cooper was caught by senior Logan Wise, who bobbled the ball, and brought it down inbounds near the sideline. Wise finished the game with four receptions for 82 yards. Wise had another big catch in the fourth quarter for 29 yards with under 3:00 remaining.

     The Indians answered with another touchdown, with Steagall rushing the ball for 21 yards twice in the drive, as his second 21-yard scamper led him into the end zone with 3:04 left in the game.

     The final TD of the game was the 80-yard rushing score by Steagall up the Hillsboro sideline. Zach Fleming kicked the PAT for the 33-8 lead.

     “This was a season of should have, could have and would have,” Closson said. “We came up short in a couple games this season and had some missed opportunities. We had great seniors this season and they will be missed.”

     For HHS, Carroll was 6 of 16 for 65 yards passing. He also rushed for 25 yards. Cooper had 138 yards passing for the Tigers, going 8 of 21.

     MHS was led in rushing by Cooper with 38 yards. Matracia finished with 33 yards on nine carries.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

HHS - 6 0 6 21 – 33

MHS – 0 0 0 8 – 8