Hillsboro hosted the Jackson Ironmen on Friday night in Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) football action. The Indians lost by a final score of 28-6 to drop to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the FAC while Jackson moved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the FAC.
The Ironmen rolled into Highland County on a mission to run the ball right at the Indians and that is what they did as senior running back Blake McCoy shredded the Indians defense for 201 yard rushing on 30 carries.
Hillsboro had the same game plan but the Indians were ineffective on this night. Josh Keets led the way for Hillsboro with 69 yards rushing and a touchdown on 17 carries. Keets also contributed a 43-yard pass to Britton Haines in the second quarter.
Jackson received the opening kickoff and promptly marched down the field in just under five minutes and scored the opening touchdown of the game to give themselves a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter with the ball in Jackson territory the Indians went for it on fourth and two but were unable to convert as Deon Burns was met at the line of scrimmage and taken down.
Jackson took over and quickly scored again on a second and goal run by McCoy to push their lead to 14-0.
Hillsboro answered on their next drive, which took only seven plays and lasted three minutes, as Keets powered his way into the end zone from eight yards out to get the Indians on the board. The point after was no good and made the score 14-6 with under five minuted to play in the first half.
After forcing the Ironmen to go three and out the Indians had a promising drive going that featured a 43-yard scamper by Mason Swayne. However with under 25 seconds to play Swayne, trying to run again, fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Jackson and returned 40 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was good for the Ironmen and put them up 21-6 heading into half time.
Jackson went on to add another touchdown in the third quarter to provide the final 28-6 margin of victory.
Hillsboro head coach Jack O’Rourke after the game said, “Jackson is a very physical team, they beat us at our own game tonight. We didn’t move the ball very well tonight and we put our defense in bad positions tonight.”
Hillsboro will host Miami Trace next Friday in the fourth FAC game of the season.
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
