HILLSBORO — The Washington Blue Lions were looking to bounce back after a 34-7 loss to Jackson last week when they went on the road to take on the Hillsboro Indians in the third week of the Frontier Athletic Conference portion of the 2019 football season Friday night.
The Blue Lions scored one touchdown in each quarter en route to a 27-21 victory.
Washington improves to 5-3 overall, 2-1 in the FAC. The Blue Lions are now one of three teams tied for second place in the conference (along with Miami Trace and Chillicothe).
The Blue Lions got on the board first with a 16-yard pass from Ethan Rogers-Wright to Eli Lynch.
Grant Kuhlwein’s extra-point kick put Washington in front, 7-0 at the 8:30 mark of the first quarter.
Hillsboro responded with a 2-yard touchdown run by Mark Gallimore. Brock Haines converted the extra-point attempt for the Indians, tying the score, 7-7 with 5:03 to play in the first.
The game remained tied, 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Washington took a 13-7 lead late in the second quarter on a pass from Rogers-Wright to Calum Brown, which was good for 62 yards. The Blue Lions tried a two-point run, which was turned aside.
Washington held a 13-7 lead going into the halftime break.
Hillsboro got on the board with a touchdown pass good for 23 yards from Justin Spears to Keith Doughman. Haines’ kick was true, pulling the Indians into the lead, 14-13.
Rogers-Wright had his third touchdown pass of the game, connecting with Lynch for 25 yards with 2:21 to play in the third quarter.
Rogers-Wright found Jerome Mack in the end zone for the crucial two-point conversion and a 21-14 Blue Lion lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, Gallimore had his second 2-yard touchdown run of the game. Haines tied the game with his kick, 21-21.
Finally, with 8:43 to play in the game, Chase Sluder had a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra-point kick was blocked, leaving the Blue Lions with a 27-21 lead.
The Indians were driving with the ball and Washington had an interception to thwart that scoring threat.
Hillsboro got the ball back with about one minute remaining. There was another interception with 20 seconds to play to seal the victory for the Blue Lions.
Washington had 254 yards of total offense to 349 for Hillsboro.
The Indians ran 60 offensive plays to 39 for the Blue Lions.
Rogers-Wright completed 9 of 16 passes for 144 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Hillsboro’s Spears was 6 of 12 passing for 98 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jameson McCane led the Blue Lions with 13 carries for 80 yards.
Spears carried for 131 yards on 15 carries and Gallimore had 108 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns for Hillsboro.
In addition to his touchdown, Sluder led the Blue Lion defense with 11 tackles. Collier Brown had 9.5 tackles and Garitt Leisure had 8.5 tackles.
Lynch caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
Doughman had four receptions for 85 yards and one touchdown for Hillsboro.
Defensively for the Indians, Logan Hester led with eight tackles, including one quarterback sack.
Brandon Cubbage had one sack for the Blue Lion defense.
Washington (5-3 overall, 2-1 in the FAC) will return to Highland County next week to take on the McClain Tigers.
McClain lost to Chillicothe Friday night, 44-14 to fall to 2-6 overall, 0-3 in the FAC.
