ORIGINALLY WRITTEN
HILLSBORO 30, STERLING 12
The Hillsboro Trojans survived a shaky first half to beat Sterling 30-12 Friday night in the season opener.
In the first quarter, Sterling stopped Hillsboro’s first drive, then drove the ball deep into Trojan territory. Hillsboro escaped an early deficit when Sterling’s Jason Royer dropped two passes in the end zone. Hillsboro came back to score first on a 15-yard pass from Ronn Coates to Adam Woods. Sheldon Funk added the PAT for a 7-0 HHS lead.
Sterling came back in the second quarter, scoring first on a 15-yard pass that was set up by a Coates interception deep in Hillsboro territory. Then, Sterling quarterback Chris Schneider, a thorn in the Trojans’ flesh all first half, returned a punt 68 yards for another TD as the Black Bears took a 12-7 lead. Hillsboro regained the lead before halftime on a 9-yard run by Jeremy Loewen (S. Funk PAT).
In the second half, the HHS defense shut down Schneider and forced a safety on a bad punt snap through the end zone. The offense scored two more touchdowns, one on a 9-yard pass to Dan Funk from Coates in the third quarter (S. Funk PAT), and the other on a 3-yard run by Loewen in the fourth quarter (PAT by S. Heckler).
The football win capped a strong first week of fall sports for HHS. The volleyball team swept Council Grove on Tuesday,2-0, and the cross country team won its first meet ever at Smoky Valley on Thursday.
AREA FOOTBALL SCORES: Canton-Galva 10, Inman 0; White City 54, Centre 28; Central Christian 48, Goessel 22; Marion 20, Minneapolis 6; Central Burden 6, Peabody Burns 0.
MCAA SCORES: Hillsboro 30, Sterling 12; Collegiate 64, Nickerson 19; Hesston 55, Halstead 0; Haven 28, Clearwater 6; Ellinwwod 12, Lyons 0; Smoky Valley 20, SE of Saline 0.
Trojans Win Opener
