MSHSAA 2017 Class 4 State Quarterfinal Recap
Ladue Rams 34, Hillsboro Hawks 20
The past few weeks have changed the conversation. No longer are the Hillsboro Hawks a quirky upstart from a wafer-thin conference. They’re MSHSAA contenders, capable of beating schools of all shapes and sizes. Few fans had imagined any Jefferson County team becoming such a fearsome opponent in the 2017 postseason.
We can assume that reporters from the Gateway City expected the entire Hawks-Rams Q-Final to go the way it did at the start. HHS seemed to have hit the dreaded playoff “Wall” when Ladue took a 17-point lead less than 15:00 in.
Over the next 29 and 1/2 minutes of game clock, the Blue & White out-scored the visitors 20-10. What’s more, the Varsity Rams seemed less and less-comfortable as the chilly night wore on.
Hillsboro’s 1st-quarter collapse clearly cost the Hawks a chance to play Parkway Central for a trip to Faurot Field in Columbia. The Geek felt strongly that Coach Freeman should have opted to go for at least 1, if not 2 4th-down conversions early in the game, but the punt team consistently took the field. In some sense, the decision was understandable. Micheal Keller felt stiff and sore in warm-ups, and flipping the field would buy more trainer-time. The Hawk special-teams unit was well-rehearsed and ready to rock.
But punting it away also gave the Rams’ big-play offense extra rapid-fire possessions, which they were hoping for. Ladue quarterback Jordan Jackson found open receivers downfield, visiting PK P.J. Hensley showed off his accuracy, and things nearly spun out of control.
Right on cue, the hosts countered with a clock-winding touchdown drive that forced Ladue’s offense-only players to stand waiting in a cold, hostile environment for a very long time. The Rams just didn’t look the same after that. Jackson is a talented QB with a dynamic supporting cast, but clumsy at times when handing-off or executing run-pass option plays. The Blue & White defensive line took full advantage of Jackson’s slow-takes and busted ball-exchanges, and the Hawks hung around.
Then, suddenly, HHS had the momentum. Garner and Skaggs found daylight up the middle, Keller loosened up, an on-side kick worked to perfection…and HHS scored 14 unanswered points to close the gap to 27-20 with 6 minutes remaining.
Now the Rams were under serious pressure. Hillsboro TDs are worth more than 7 points on average, and the Hawks would certainly go for 2 if they scored again. The visitors weren’t just trying to win in regulation but fighting for their lives. But after a needles-and-pins drive downfield, Cameron Meeks broke a short-yardage conversion carry all the way, scoring with about 3 minutes left.
The hosts appeared to wave a white flag. Freeman ceremoniously put senior backups on the field and ordered 3 hand-offs in a row. Tyler Isaacson was sacked while trying to throw on 4th down, but the lack of hurry-up passing signaled the team’s intentions.
Would Hillsboro have punted on 2 straight short-yardage 4th downs against Festus? North County? Farmington? Nope.
Can the Hillsboro Hawks score 2 touchdowns against a good team in 2:54? Lord, absolutely. We’ve all seen it happen. Down 34-20 to Ladue, they had every reason to toss up an alley-oop, run a trick play or even a simple Rocket Toss to Keller on 1st down. Why not? You can only lose a game once.
We’re not saying Coach Lee Freeman shouldn’t have given his unheralded seniors one last chance. Fresh legs on the field aren’t a bad thing when it’s desperation – lateral time. You never know when a backup could have a Jeremy Lin moment and do something special. (The Geek will not use Rudy as an example, because as any good Georgia Tech fan will tell you, Rudy was offsides.)
But Jefferson County teams are still adjusting to playoff opponents too often, instead of trying to make said opponents adjust to them. The Rams struggled to adjust to what the Hawks were doing throughout the mid-game Blue & White surge. In the end, the visitors might have seemed more invincible than they really were, and it wasn’t the players who’d gone in too gun-shy.
On the flip side, Hawk athletes and coaches deserve A+ credit for how they handled falling behind 17-0. The squad showed once and for all that the Show Me Bowl is not out of reach for a Jeff County team in this era. Parkway Central lost to Ladue in the regular season. Potential eastern bracket-killer Borgia lost to the Rolla Bulldogs in a major upset. The landscape is open for a new challenger to Webb City’s annual Class 4 throne.
Such lofty goals won’t be at the forefront of Freeman’s mind next summer. Almost the entire offensive backfield must be replaced, and he’ll lose a few key blockers and DBs too. But another run at the grail is sure to happen before you know it. When it does, the Hillsboro Hawks will look to their 2017 record as a confidence-boost, a new standard for the program.
The Varsity Hawks made a statement this year, and local rivals better have been paying attention. The county from which a program hails is no longer an excuse for not challenging the urban powerhouses of MSHSAA.
We might not always win, but we can make ’em remember the bruises.
Original By-Line Date: 11/13/17