By NATE BEIER | For the County Line
An early scoring drive allowed Royall to take a 6-0 lead over Hillsboro on Friday, but it was not enough, as Hillsboro rallied in the second quarter and beyond to notch a 30-6 victory.
The Panthers drove inside the red zone on their first drive, but an untimely interception by Josh Murray killed the drive. However, Murray made up for his mistake on the second offensive possession by connecting with Chandler Townsend for a 13-yard score, lifting Royall ahead of Hillsboro.
The Tigers responded on the first play of the second quarter by capping a drive with Tyler Crandall’s 1-yard run. Royall stopped the 2-point conversion try to leave the game knotted at 6. Then Tommy Crandall broke the stalemate with just more than a minute left in the half with a seven-yard run. Matt Stekel was credited with the 2-point conversion, and Hillsboro entered halftime leading 14-6.
The Tigers methodically distanced themselves from rival Royall, as Stekel scored in the third quarter and Warren Paulson added another touchdown in the fourth. Both scores were followed by successful 2-point conversions, which set up the final score. Hillsboro finished with 326 rushing yards on 54 tries in the contest.
“I thought we played hard. They’re a better team than us. We just couldn’t move the ball, ” said head coach Rick Steffen.
The Royall offense was quelled by a stout Tiger defense. The ground game was nullified, but the passing game found some success. Josh Murray went 12-27 for 122 yards, plus Townsend finished with 5 catches for 68 yards, including the team’s lone score. Also, Michael Salamonski pulled in three passes for 41 yards.
“We were just able to get the ball to them,” said Steffen in regard to the success of his ends. “When we get the ball to them, we should have success.”
Mark Preuss recorded 12 tackles in the loss, and freshman Seth Brown added 11 of his own as well as an interception in the end zone to stop a Tiger drive.
Royall (0-3) will host Wonewoc-Center (0-3) Friday night, when league play resumes. Royall defeated the Wolves 50-12 last year.
Brookwood blanked again
It was a showdown between defending conference champions, and it proved to be a tight contest for the full 48 minutes of play. But the visiting New Lisbon football team fended off a hungry Falcon squad 13-0.
New Lisbon’s Kyle Woodward put the visitors on the board first with a 9-yard run in the first quarter. After that, however, the Rockets seemed to run out of fuel and stalled.
Credit the Falcon defense for digging in to keep its opponent off the board until the final minute of the game, when Woodward crossed the goal line with about a half-minute left to put the win out of reach for the Falcons.
Ethan Suhr spearheaded the defensive effort by participating in 18 tackles. Matthew Hansen and Kody Tormoen each were in on 13 tackles, and Jack Hansen added 11. Also, Jordan Ramirez and Caleb Witt added 10 tackles apiece to their season totals.
Jack Hansen and Isaiah Sletten combined for three sacks, which totaled -28 yards for the Rockets.
The offensive effort was quiet again, though it showed considerable improvement from week two’s trip to Riverdale.
Jaden Havlik was 5-16 in passing for 74 yards. Havlik’s longest of the night was a 41-yard reception by Tormoen.
Havlik also ran for 22 yards on two tries, and Suhr picked up 25 yards on five attempts.
New Lisbon was led by Marshal Toelle, who ran for 101 of the Rockets’ 188 total yards on the ground. Brookwood tallied 51 as a team.
Brookwood (0-3, 0-1) will travel to Cashton Friday night to square off against the Eagles (1-2, 1-0).
Around the Scenic Bluffs
Bangor (3-0, 1-0) quieted Necedah (1-2, 0-1) 38-0. Bangor took a 15-0 lead at halftime before scoring three times in the third quarter to vanquish its Cardinal counterparts. Cashton (1-2, 1-0) notched its first win of the year by taking out Wonewoc-Center (0-3, 0-1) 48-8.
This week’s slate of games consists of New Lisbon at Bangor, Brookwood at Cashton, Hillsboro at Necedah, and Wonewoc-Center at Royall.
