Marion slowly but surely pulled away from the Trojans in this match up of intra-county neighbors
The Marion Warriors proved who was the better team on this Friday night, dominating the Trojans by a score of 33-6 at Marion.
Hillsboro appeared ready to play, taking the opening kickoff and driving 74 yards to the 1-yard line in 13 plays, but the Warriors stopped the Trojans on fourth down to set a tone for the rest of the evening.
The Warriors scored first on a 1-yard run by Casey Nelson with 32.8 seconds left in the first quarter; the kick made it 7-0.
On their first play from scrimage following the kick off, the Trojans turned the ball over on a Josh Boese fumble. Nelson ran for an 18-yard score on the Warriors' first play to make it 14-0 with the kick.
Hillsboro scored its only points of the night with 4:19 left in the first half when Lucas Hamm bulled his way through the Warrior line and scored from 28 yards out. The Trojans missed the extra point, and trailed 14-6.
Marion took the second half kickoff and, following a good return by Jason Hett, marched 55 yards in 14 plays, including nine consecutive carries by Nelson. He finally scored from two yards out with 5:04 left in the quarter. The kick sailed left and Marion led 20-6.
Marion added two fourth-quarter scores, one on a 24-yard run by Nelson and the other on a 6-yard run by Nelson.
The loss drops Hillsboro to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in district play. Marion improved to 7-1 and 1-1.
