(PHOTOS BY JENNIFER BETHEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
SCRAMBLE … Hilltop quarterback Cameron Shimp takes off on a run in the first quarter at North Central. VIEW 144 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
AIRING IT OUT … North Central quarterback Tyler Meyers makes throw out to the right.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PIONEER (September 13, 2024) – Brock Kesler avenged an early game mistake with two first half touchdowns, and Hilltop blew the game open with two more scores in the first 93 seconds of the second half to beat North Central, 36-7, to grab their first victory of the season. North Central has yet to win this year.
“This was huge for us tonight,” Hilltop coach Nate Massie expressed. “I’m feeling darn good right now. This is nice, the first two years we played them they hung a combined 112 points, so to come out here and beat them is nice.”
The Cadets forced a first possession punt, but when Kesler tried to field the bouncing ball, he muffed it, and the Eagles regained possession at the Hilltop 5.
Three plays netted a loss of two and when Anton Hegler’s field goal attempt was wide, the Cadets avoided giving up points after the turnover.
For some inexplicable reason, Hilltop was given possession at their own 7 rather than the 20, the biggest of a number of head scratching events during the evening that included no less than five clock adjustments and a lengthy 12 minute discussion in which the officials had to refer to the rule book late in the third quarter after a series of four straight snaps in which flags flew.
Kesler made that erroneous placement of the football a moot point, when he took Cameron Shimp’s short pass, made a move on the edge and outran the Eagle defense 90 yards to the end zone to put Hilltop up 6-0 near the halfway point in the first.
Tyler Meyers came right back, leading the Eagles on a 10 play, 63-yard march, where he went 5/6 in the air for 64 yards.
Meyers hit Brenden Solano for 24, Cash Martin for 17 more, then the 6’5 Hegler high-pointed Meyers aerial over a Hilltop defender for the last 15 yards and the ensuing extra point gave North Central a 7-6 lead with 1:20 left in the opening quarter.
The Eagles threatened again in the second as they put together another 10-play drive that carried them to a fourth-and-goal at the Hilltop 4.
Jameison Benedict was stopped just short of the end zone and that play turned the momentum as the Cadets retaliated with an 11 play, 99-yard scoring march.
Scott Bowers carried six times for 27 yards on the drive, Kesler ran a counter for 15, and Cameron Schlosser romped for 31 more on the same counter, to help get the Cadets in position where Kesler cut in front of a North Central defensive back to nail Shimp’s pass in the front of the end zone from 21 yards out to push Hilltop ahead for good, 12-7 with 4:39 left in the half.
“We have talked all week about moving on from our mistakes,” Massie said. “We have been struggling as a program, and we have been trying to turn that corner by being mentally and physically tougher. Brock is one heckuva player and he made some big plays to get past a mistake.”
That lead expanded quickly in the beginning of the third quarter. After Schlosser went 40 yards with the kickoff to the North Central 43, it took just three plays for the Cadets to get to the end zone.
Bowers did the honors with a 14-yard scoring run, and Kesler’s two-point run made it 20-7 just 41 seconds into the third.
A bad exchange on the first Eagle play after the kickoff was pounced on by Alex Gutierrez at the Eagle 43.
On the second play, Shimp hit Schlosser who got to the edge and went 41 yards to paydirt, and Bowers two-pointer made it 28-7 at the 10:27 mark of the third.
“Our offense is all based on moving fast, and we want to go fast,” Massie explained of the third quarter burst. “We found something toward the end of the first half and we just kept exploiting it. These guys executed at a high-level tonight and I’m darn proud of them.”
Shimp’s pass to Brycen Grubbs set up Bowers’ second 14-yard touchdown run late in the third to close out scoring.
Hilltop had a whopping 293 yards on the ground and Shimp had another 209 in the air on 7/11 passing.
Bowers added 132 on the ground in 25 carries while Schlosser tacked on 59 more and Kesler chipped in with 57.
Meyers went 19/38 in the air for 168 yards and had 43 more on the ground to account for 211 of North Central’s 243 yards.
Hilltop hosts Petersburg Summerfield this Friday while North Central brings in Richmond Heights on the same night.