Hillsdale use its vertical speed to blitz Black River in football season opener

JEROMESVILLE — For some games, there's a feel-out process: Assess the situation and proceed from there. There wasn't any of that for Hillsdale in its season opening 44-12 win at home against Black River.

Early in the first quarter on its third offensive play of the game, Hillsdale sophomore quarterback Kael Lewis, starting his first varsity football game behind center, dropped back and threw a beauty of a ball near the sideline that laid right into the hands of wide receiver Holland Young in the end zone for a touchdown. Young lined up and just ran right by the defensive back. That went on all game.

Step for step and stride for stride, Black River just couldn't keep up with Hillsdale on Friday night. The Falcons vertical game was on point, as wide receivers Young, Brock Bower and Hayden McFadden used their outside speed to give the Pirates fits, as the offense jumped out to an 23-0 lead after the first quarter. At halftime, the Falcons led 44-0 against a Black River team that was the only Ashland County school last season that won a playoff game.

Point being, Black River just couldn't cope with Hillsdale's speed on the outside.

"Nah, they couldn't," said wide receiver/defensive back Brock Bower, who did plenty of damage catching three touchdowns on the night. "We have a quarterback who's really good in the pocket and we have some fast kids and athletes. We have a great scout defense. We ran through what they run in the scrimmages and the whole team produced."

"I knew their skill guys were not even close to ours," said quarterback Kael Lewis (more on him in the coming days), who threw five touchdown passes (all in the first half) and had zero interceptions. "We have the best skill guys in the area in my opinion."

"One of the things that's great with our team is we have guys on any given night that can play well," Hillsdale head coach Trevor Cline said. "If you're an opposing defense, you can't really key in on one guy because there are multiple guys that can make plays lining up."

To go along with Bower and his three touchdown catches, Young caught two touchdown receptions and McFadden scored a touchdown run off an end-around. Speaking of speed, running back Owen Sloan was solid for the Falcons as well. The Falcons were one of the top offensive teams in the Ashland/Wayne County area last season and with what they showed in Game 1, they look the part again.

"We have a great passing game," Bower said. "We're working on the run. It's gonna be a fun season."

jsimpson@gannnett.com

Twitter/X:@JamesSimpsonII

James Simpson II is a sports reporter with the Ashland Times-Gazette, and was recently at the Mansfield News Journal. He is a self-published author and has gotten the opportunity to interview sports figures like Bernard Hopkins, Norm Nixon, Vince Dooley, Jimmie Johnson, etc., for stories at different publications. He also produced a pretty cool feature on late NBA great Wilt Chamberlain.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Hillsdale use its vertical speed to blitz Black River in football season opener