Hillsboro used the airways Tuesday night to outlast Sedgwick, 35-28, in
the bi-district championship game at Joel H. Wiens Stadium in
Hillsboro.
Jacob Fish threw for 388 yards and four touchdowns for the Trojans,
who improved to 7-3 with the win and will play Saturday at undefeated
Wichita Collegiate, who defeated state power Garden Plain 50-21.
Jacob Edwards caught two of Fish?s scoring passes, while Taylor Hagen and Ben Bebermeyer each grabbed one.
It was a classic air vs. ground matchup between the Trojans and Cardinals, with the outcome in doubt until the end.
Sedgwick got on the board first after intercepting a Fish pass at the
Hillsboro 32-yard line. Six plays later Trent Stucky, the Sedgwick
quarterback, scored on a nine-yard run. The PAT kick glanced off the
right upright to keep the lead at 6-0 with 9:30 left in the first
period.
The Trojans then put together their best sustained drive of the
night as they marched 66 yards in 12 plays with Chance Reece bursting
across the goal line with 5:11 left in the quarter. Ethan Frantz?s kick
made it 7-6.
The Trojans increased the lead early in the second quarter when they
cashed in a Luke Moore interception for a 67-yard scoring drive in
seven plays. A 38-yard screen pass to Daniel Dick was the big play
along the way. When Frantz missed the PAT, the Trojan lead was 13-6
with 8:01 left in the half.
Sedgwick rebounded quickly, sparked by a 47-yard run by the
Cardinals? standout running back Wade Hansen that set the Cardinals up
at the Trojan 13. Two plays later Stucky was in the end zone again
after a six-yard run. The extra point tied the game at 13 with 6:24
left in the half.
The Trojans went to the air again as Fish completed four of six
passes on the brief 58-yard drive, with Hagen catching the seven-yarder
for the touchdown and then grabbing the 2-point pass to put HHS up
21-13 with 4:16 to play in the half.
That score held until halftime, but the Trojans dodged a bullet
along the way. After finally stopping a Sedgwick drive, Bebermeyer
attempted a running catch of a Cardinal punt for a big return, but the
ball bounced off his hands and was recovered by Sedgwick at the
Hillsboro 23-yard line with 59 seconds to play. Hansen was in the end
zone two plays later, but the score was nullfied by a chop-block
penalty, which essentially short-circuited the Cardinal drive.
Sedgwick took the second-half kickoff and marched 65 yards in 10
plays with Hansen scoring from two yards out. The kick made it 21-20,
Trojans, with 7:01 left in the quarter.
On the very next play after the kickoff, Fish threw deep to
Bebermeyer, who gathered it in and raced the final yards for a 64-yard
TD. Frantz?s kick made it 28-20 with 6:59 left in the quarter.
Undeterred, Sedgwick put together a another sustained drive that
started with 6:42 left in the third quarter and ended when the
Cardinals missed a 30-yard field-goal attempt at the 11:20 mark of the
fourth quarter.
A big 39-yard pass to Bebermeyer on the next possession moved the
ball to the Sedgwick 33. Fish picked up eight yards on keeper sweep,
then ran the same play again — only to have the ball snatched out of
his arms by Hansen, who raced 74 yards for a touchdown. He also ran the
2-point conversion that tied the game at 28 with 10:09 to play.
But Fish and the Trojans stepped right up with a 19-yard pass to
Hagen, followed by a 26-yarder to Edwards followed by a 14-yarder to
Edwards once again for the touchdown. Frantz nailed the kick to put
Hillsboro up by the final margin, 35-28 with 8:10 left in the game.
But drama continued before the final gun sounded. Sedgwick launched
a drive that started at its 32 and got to midfield with a
fourth-and-three. The Trojans finally stopped Stucky and took over at
the Cardinal 49-yard line with 5:09 to go.
Hillsboro moved the ball to the Cardinal 21 before the drive
stalled, and Sedgwick took over there with 4:36 left in the contest.
Three big running plays moved the ball to the Trojan 33-yard line
before another chop-block penalty derailed the Cardinals again. Four
plays later, Bebermeyer stuck the knife in the Cardinals by
intercepting Stucky?s fourth-and-30 pass with 1:16 left in the game.
The Trojans ran out the clock to seal the win and a berth in the next round. Sedgwick ended its season at 7-3.
