By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
OTTAWA HILLS (September 20, 2025) – Sometime in the late hours of Friday night, Hilltop’s Scotty Bowers will deservedly rest.
That’s because the Cadets’ two-way senior performer carried the football a whopping 38 times for 183 yards, scoring four touchdowns, then making a game-changing play on defense by recovering a fourth-quarter fumble that helped pace Hilltop to a 42-26 win over Ottawa Hills to chalk up their first victory on the season. Ottawa Hills dropped to 2-3.
“It took a full effort from the entire team,” exuberant Cadet coach Nate Massie said. “It took great execution on our part; we didn’t have a turnover to get the monkey off our back after getting shut out the last couple weeks. Those guys are happy. We’ve had some rough years, and it was great to be able to finally put it together.”
The Green Bears struck first on the night, getting a 35-yard pass from Cole Coy to Toby Stevens with 10:33 left in the first half. Late in the half, Hilltop put together a 12-play, 77-yard march to take the lead.
Cameron Shimp hit Anthony Jiannuzzi twice, converting a third down, then a fourth-and-five to put the ball at the Green Bear 34.
Bowers took it the last 34 yards, then converted the two-point conversion to boost the Cadets on top 8-6 with two minutes left.
On the next possession, Coy, under heavy pressure, cast up a lob that Hilltop’s Brycen Grubbs came down with to regain possession for the Cadets.
Shimp hit Jiannuzzi for 20 and 15 to get the rock to the four-yard line, where Bowers finished the drive with just 03.5 left in the half, giving the Cadets a 14-6 advantage.
Ottawa Hills came back, scoring their first two possessions in the second half around a Hilltop punt. Ian Densmore, who gained 116 yards in the third quarter on the ground, bolted 44 and 37 yards for scores that put Ottawa Hills back up 20-14 heading into the fourth.
Again, Hilltop went on an extended drive, 10 plays in all, to retake the lead. Shimp hit Jiannuzzi again for 14, then found Grubbs going across the middle for 20 to get into the red zone.
Four plays later, Shimp on the read option went in over the left side, and Terry Rebeck blasted in for the go-ahead conversion with 10:10 left.
On the first play after the kickoff, Densmore lost control of the ball, and Bowers pounced on it at the Ottawa Hills 20. Six plays later, Shimp again faked to Bowers and carried in from seven yards away.
Bowers pounded in for the two-pointer and Hilltop took a two-score lead at 30-20.
“Oh man, that was a huge change in momentum,” Massie expressed. “We were kind of going back and forth, and they turned it over down there and we scored to give us some space, and we were able to confuse the quarterback and get a turnover on downs and get another.”
“Scotty Bowers, he was our bell cow all night. He scores four touchdowns, runs it close to 40 times, the kid is a (heckuva) player.”
Coy got one back, hitting Densmore from 11 yards away to slice the gap to 30-26, but Bowers put the game away, scoring from 17 yards away with 3:18 to go, and after the Cadets stopped the Bears on fourth down, Bowers knocked home his fourth score of the game from the 10 with 39 ticks left on the clock.
The Cadets rang up 359 yards on offense, Shimp throwing for 106 and running for 67 more to supplement Bowers’ big night. Ottawa Hills totaled 402 yards, throwing for 247.
UP NEXT: September 27 – Erie Mason, MI (0-4, 0-2 TAAC) at Hilltop (1-4, 1-1 TAAC) 2pm
HHS 0 14 0 28 – 42
OHHS 0 6 14 6 – 26
OH – Stevens 35-yd pass from Coy (kick failed)
H – Bowers 34-yd run (Bowers run)
H – Bowers 5-yd run (kick failed)
OH – Densmore 44-yd run (conversion good)
OH – Densmore 37-yd run (conversion failed)
H – Shimp 1-yd run (Rebeck kick)
H – Shimp 7-yd run (Bowers run)
OH – Densmore 10-yd pass from Coy (conversion failed)
H – Bowers 17-yd run (kick failed)
H – Bowers 10-yd run (kick failed)