GOAL LINE AHEAD … Hilltop’s Scott Bowers stretches for the end zone in Saturday’s 39-6 win over Erie Mason.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
TAAC FOOTBALL … Terry Rebeck rumbles for yardage on a first half carry for Hilltop.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
WEST UNITY (September 26, 2025) – It’s been nearly a decade since the last time Hilltop had won consecutive football games and on Saturday, September 26 on a warm and sunny early fall afternoon, the Cadets notched their second straight Toledo Area Athletic Conference triumph with an impressive 39-6 win over visiting Erie Mason at Daft Field.
Hilltop’s previous back-to-back gridiron victories occurred during the 2018 season when the Cadets defeated both Toledo Christian (21-14) and Ottawa Hills (20-0) in consecutive weeks.
“It’s been a long time, but I can’t remember what the year was,” admitted Hilltop head football coach Nate Massie afterwards. “It’s feels great to do that and get on a little bit of a streak. We started off rough today but later we found our groove later in the game and then put it on them.”
Following an exchange of punts to begin the game, Hilltop finally got themselves on track on its second offensive series.
The Cadets went to the ground game on their second series with running backs Scott Bowers and Terry Rebeck leading the charge.
Bowers and Rebeck combined for eight carries totaling 52 yards along with a pair of passes from quarterback Cameron Shimp to Anthony Jiannuzzi totaling 12 yards and on fourth down and one from the Eagles’ 3-yard line, Bowers scored the first of his three touchdowns with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter.
Hilltop’s lone turnover came in the second quarter after being pinned inside their own eight-yard line before Erie Mason linebacker Maddix Wise would strip the ball away from Rebeck at the 15-yard line and went untouched for the Eagles’ only touchdown of the game.
From there, Hilltop scored on its next two possessions with Shimp scoring on a one-yard quarterback keeper and defensive lineman Nate Johnson recovered an Erie Mason fumble at the Hilltop 35-yard line.
The Cadets made it 21-6 with Bowers scoring from 13 yards out which was set up by a personal foul penalty against Erie Mason and a 16-yard pass completion from Shimp to Jiannuzzi to the Eagles’ 13-yard line.
“Our offense was fantastic today,” said Massie. “We had figured some things out and we had some receivers making some nice plays. Both of our running backs, Scott (Bowers) and Terry (Rebeck) looked good. And our quarterback Cameron Shimp not fully healthy looked great.”
Hilltop would deliver the knockout punch on Erie Mason early in the third quarter scoring three times in less than four minutes.
Shimp, who was 17 of 23 for 224 yards through the air, found a wide-open Riley Carter who beat several defenders for a 44-yard touchdown strike at the 10:42 mark of the quarter.
On the next play, Jiannuzzi forced an Erie Mason fumble at the Hilltop 44-yard line. Shimp connected with Brycen Grubbs (19 yards) and Bryson Kesler (17 yards) before Bowers bullied his way into the endzone for his third touchdown of the afternoon.
Jiannuzzi ended up with eight catches for 71 yards leading Hilltop. Grubbs had six grabs for 78 yards and Carter had one catch for 44 yards.
Hilltop came up with another defensive stop on fourth down at the Cadets’ 43-yard line and Bowers went 57 yards to pay dirt for his fourth score of the game for a 39-6 lead with 8:10 left in the quarter.
Bowers was the workhorse in the Cadets’ backfield finishing with 203 yards on 25 carries for an impressive average of 8.1 yards per touch while Rebeck added 50 yards on six totes.
“He’s still not one hundred percent healthy which is shocking,” said Massie. “He’s feeling better and we’re doing a better job blocking for him every time and he’s seeing the holes better.”
A huge key to the Cadets’ victory was a balanced attack with 259 yards rushing and 224 yards passing for 476 yards in offense while holding Erie Mason to a total of 180 yards, 159 rushing and 21 yards passing.
Cam Davis led Erie Mason (0-4, 0-3 TAAC) with 111 yards on 12 carries.
With a two-game winning streak in place, the Cadets look to build that momentum heading into Friday’s TAAC road contest at Summerfield (3-2, 1-2 TAAC).
“It was a rough start with some good teams early in the season.” said Massie. “We got these two in a row against some pretty good teams and we got some good teams coming up. We got to just out execute them and continue to be who we are.”
EMHS 0 6 0 0-6
HHS 7 14 18 0-39
H – Bowers 3-yd run (Karadeniz kick)
EM – Wise 15-yd fumble recovery (pass failed)
H – Shimp 1-yd run (run failed)
H – Bowers 13-yd run (Rebeck run)
H – Carter 44-yd pass from Shimp (kick failed)
H – Bowers 13-yd run (kick blocked)
H – Bowers 57-yd run (kick failed)