HILLSBORO — It was a beautiful night for football as the Washington Blue Lions visited Highland County on Friday to take on the Hillsboro Indians in a Frontier Athletic Conference game.

The Blue Lions were coming off a 49-21 conference-opening loss to Jackson, while Hillsboro won its FAC lid-lifter, 23-17, over Chillicothe in overtime.

Hillsboro had great success running the football as it posted a 36-6 homecoming victory over Washington.

“This was a great win for us,” Hillsboro head coach Nathan Horne said. “Defense played their tails off. Offensively, we ran off tackle all night. Our line blocked well. It was a good night all the way around, really. You (couldn’t) ask for a better night. I was real pleased with it.”

Horne saw the Indians’ hard work yield dividends.

“It’s exciting, you know, it’s exciting,” Horne said. “We work so hard and I know every program works hard and hats off to Washington Court House. We run, we lift three days a week. It’s exciting to see some rewards from that. I’m excited for the kids.”

It was the third win in a row for the Indians.

The game began with Washington taking the opening kickoff and moving downfield for a touchdown.

The remainder of the game went in favor of Hillsboro as the Indians scored 36 unanswered points.

After Washington’s opening TD, Hillsboro moved the ball from its own 35 down to Washington’s 25, where the Indians turned the ball back over on downs.

Washington went three and out and Hillsboro took the ball from its 45-yard line. From there, Hillsboro did what it did very well on this night and that is, run the ball. The Indians ran the ball 10 consecutive plays and scored on a 9-yard run by Austin Barrett, who had four rushing TDs on the night. The Hillsboro extra-point kick was blocked, leaving the score tied, 6-6, with 12 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Washington punted again and soon there was an exchange of turnovers. Hillsboro fumbled on its next possession, the ball recovered by Washington’s Matthew Colflesh.

The Blue Lions converted a fourth down and 10 to keep a possession going with a pass from Gavin Coffman to Noah Haithcock. A couple of plays later, Mason Coffman scored on a reverse for the Blue Lions on a 30-yard run. However, the score was nullified by a Blue Lion penalty.

There followed an interception by Hillsboro’s Logan Elliott.

Hillsboro went from Washington’s 43-yard line and Barrett scored on a 9-yard run. Wesley Bailey converted the extra-point kick to give Hillsboro a 13-6 lead with 4:04 to play in the first half.

The Blue Lions suffered a second turnover with an interception by Jeven Hochstuhl at the Hillsboro 31-yard line. The Indians moved the ball down field and scored at the end of the half on a 25-yard field goal by Bailey. Hillsboro took a 16-6 lead up the hill and into the locker room at Richard Memorial Field.

Hillsboro received the opening kickoff and went down to score on a 12-yard run by Barrett. The extra-point kick was no good, leaving Hillsboro with a 22-6 lead at the 8:18 mark of the third quarter.

After a Blue Lion punt, Hillsboro’s Barrett scored on a 49-yard run. Bailey’s kick gave the Indians a 29-6 lead with 11 seconds to play in the third quarter.

The next possession for Washington was thwarted by an interception returned for a touchdown by Indian Nic Burns. With the PAT, the running clock began early in the fourth quarter.

Coffman completed a couple of passes to Jakob Hoosier on the next series, but Hillsboro recorded a couple of quarterback sacks and Hochstuhl made his second interception of the game. The Indians were able to run a few plays to close out the game with the 36-6 victory.

Taking a look at the statistics, total yardage was 353 for Hillsboro to 183 for Washington.

Hillsboro ran the ball 50 times for 303 yards and four touchdowns by the senior Barrett.

Washington ran the ball 17 times for 20 yards.

Gavin Coffman completed 13 of 25 passes for 163 yards and one touchdown.

Hillsboro quarterback Mason Dumpert was 2 of 2 passing for 50 yards.

The Blue Lions had five penalties for 45 yards and Hillsboro had three for 35 yards.

Washington (3-4 overall, 0-2 FAC) will return to Highland County next week to take on the McClain Tigers.

McClain improved to 5-2 on the season with a 20-17 win at Chillicothe (1-6 overall, 0-2 in the conference). The win by the Tigers snapped a 24-game losing streak in the FAC. The previous conference win for the Tigers came on Sept. 28, 2018, a 47-40 win at Miami Trace.

Hillsboro (4-3, 2-0) will have its strongest challenge of the season to date when it hosts defending FAC champion Jackson this Friday.

Jackson improved to 2-0 in the FAC, 6-1 overall, with a 42-13 win over Miami Trace (4-3, 1-1) Friday night.

Chris Hoppes is the sports editor for the Record-Herald in Washington C.H.