Hillsboro finally came to life when Ishmael Morris ran the ensuing kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown. He then caught a 2-point pass from Fish to make the score 20-8.
After Daniel Jost intercepted a Chase Dippel pass to give HHS the ball at the Smoky Valley 40, the Trojans marched into the end zone again to cut the lead to 20-16 after Fish threw to Tyler Jones for the 2-point conversion.
That proved to be Hillsboro?s last hurrah as the Vikings scored two more times in the second quarter to establish a 36-16 cushion at halftime.
?The conditions weren?t our problem,? coach Len Coryea said. ?The problem was our work ethic during the week?I think it definitely showed. During practice, we couldn?t run three consecutive plays without making a mistake. I think there?s a direct transfer (to this game).?
Smoky pushed the lead to 44-16 with 8:23 left in the third quarter before Hillsboro added a 78-yard touchdown run by Morris with 26 seconds left in the third quarter to make the score 44-22.
A scoreless fourth quarter dropped the Trojans to 1-1 for the year while the Vikings improved to 2-0.
The Vikings rolled up 289 rushing yards on 58 carries against the Trojan defense. Dippel added 119 yards through the air on six completions in nine attempts.
Hillsboro, meanwhile, netted 157 yards on the ground, a remarkable number considering Morris rolled up 174 yards on only 14 carries.
?Ishmael was simply outstanding,? Coryea said.
Morris? total was undermined by a minus-22 yards Fish recorded on two carries and a loss of 10 yards total on four carries by Jones. Isaac Leihy added 13 yards on three carries.
Fish had a tough night passing, managing only two completions in 12 attempts to his own teammates while the Vikings grabbed three of his passes.
Coryea said his team may have been intimidated.
?I think we?re a little gun-shy of Smoky,? he said. ?They beat us physically so much (last season) that it affected us mentally. I don?t care what anybody says, as a human being you?ve got that in the back of your head. I think that was our problem. We were holding back a little bit.?
Coming?Hillsboro (1-1) will play its first divisional game Friday when the Trojans travel to Ellinwood (0-2), which lost to Halstead last week, 26-0.
?We?ve got good kids, and we?re going to do things,? Coryea said. ?But we have to put it all together.?
