ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
If there was any doubt that Wichita Collegiate is the team to beat in the MCAA, it evaporated for Hillsboro Trojan fans Friday night as the Spartans showed why they are undefeated and ranked No. 2 in Class 3A with a convincing 37-0 win over the Trojans in Wichita.
Collegiate scored first soon after Ronn Coates shanked a punt into the wind, giving the Spartans the ball on the Hillsboro 42-yard line.Three running plays later, Patrick Ritchie scored from five yards out, and Joe Rheem’s kick made it 7-0 with 8:05 to go in the first quarter.
About two minutes later, Collegiate’s James Collins blocked Coates’ next punt in the end zone, giving the home team a safety and a 9-0 lead.
The Spartans added a second touchdown with 1.5 seconds left in the first quarter on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Rheem to Dan Dakhil. Rheem’s kick made it 16-0.
With 4:29 left in the first half, the Spartans leading runningback, Banks Floodman, ran for a score from two yards out. The 2-point conversion pass was incomplete, and the Spartans took their 22-0 lead into intermission.
Hillsboro simply could not get anything going offensively, picking up only 74 rushing yards all night, and only 16 in the second half. Jeremy Loewen, the Trojans’ top rusher, sat out almost three quarters of the football game after getting banged up in the first quarter.
The Spartans’ Floodman added two second-half touchdowns, one on a 10-yard run and the other on a four-yard run. For the evening, Floodman had 116 yards on 20 carries and the Spartans rolled up 267 yards on the ground on 33 carries. Ritchie added 90 yards on 10 carries.
Hillsboro’s leading ball carrier was Ross Duerksen, who had 39 yards on six carries.
With the loss, Hillsgboro drops to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the MCAA Mid Division. Collegiate moves to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mid Division.
Collegiate throttles Hillsboro, 37-0
