10/29/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
HILLSBORO - Roxana head coach Wade DeVries needed a huge play from his team in the second half of his club's road playoff game Saturday afternoon.

As it turned out, he got two.

A pair of sophomores came up with big plays, one on offense and another with a game clinching defensive stop.

Reserve running back Zeb Katzmarek only had two carries in the game but his second one was a 66-yard touchdown run to break a 7-7 tie in the third quarter.

Sophomore defensive back Andruw Ellis stopped a potential game-winning drive by Hillsboro late fourth quarter drive with a fourth down interception.

Those key plays helped the Shells win their first playoff game since 2014 with a 13-7 road victory Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, Coach DeVries' young squad improved to 7-3 and will now face top-seed Fairbury Prairie Central next Saturday at Roxana.

“We subbed him (Katzmarek) in for that play. This was the play I was going to call anyway so I wasn't going to change it. We had the kids in there and they executed what we wanted to do,” said Coach DeVries.

Coach Joe Reed and his Hiltoppers had chances but they made mistakes that cost themselves points and field position and when they needed to score on their final drive of the game, Roxana came up with the answer to advance to the second round.

Hillsboro saw its season end at 6-4, stopping a four-game winning streak.

“Sometimes you're on that (bad) side of things in a game with two teams evenly matched. Credit them (Roxana). They made some big plays, made some adjustments at the half and they gave us some fits,” said Coach Reed. “Unfortunately we were a couple of plays away today.”

Hillsboro had chances to score on its first two drives that entered Roxana territory but a lost fumble on the first chance and a personal foul penalty stopped the second potential scoring threat.

Instead of pushing ahead in the game, the Hiltoppers ended up trailing until right before halftime.

“Early in the game I thought we missed on some big opportunities. Our first drive not coming away with points,” said Coach Reed. “Coming up short on drives and points is something you can't do in playoff games. I wish we had a couple of those plays back.”

To explain what sort of game this was, a quick look at the stat sheet shows that of the 116 offensive plays ran by the two squads, there were only 17 passing attempts.

Hillsboro senior quarterback Zane Duff closed out his prep football career with a 4-of-10 performance for 50-yards with a second quarter TD pass.

He also rushed nine times for 18-yards.

The top rusher in the game for Coach Reed was junior Dylan Lessman with 79-yards on 12-attempts.

Three other Hiltoppers carried the ball on the day with success.

Junior Jace Stewart, senior Jaben Compton and senior Blaze Helton combined for 88-yards on 26-carries.

Roxana junior QB Chris Walleck was 4-of-7 passing for 63-yards and a first quarter touchdown.

Katzmarek ended up with 67-yards on two carries, the other was a one-yard gain.

Terrel Graves, a junior running back, rushed 10 times for 79-yards, including a 37-yard run late in the game that sealed the victory.

Ellis also got in on the offensive action with a pair of runs.

His first run on a fake punt (he handles the kicking duties for his team) kept the Shells first drive alive that led to points.

Hillsboro's problems started on the opening drive of the game.

After a 23-yard return by senior Brayden Fowler set the Hiltoppers up at their own 42, Duff led his team down the field into Roxana territory before a fumble by Duff was covered by Roxana senior lineman Ashton Noble at the Shells' 28.

The ensuing drive was 13-plays covering 72-yards.

The Ellis fake punt run for 10-yards on fourth-and-eight set up Roxana.

Then another mistake from Hillsboro proved costly.

Facing another fourth down with two yards to go, Roxana got a gift of an off-sides penalty to keep the drive going.

On the next play, Walleck dropped back and found 6-3 junior running back Evan Wells out of the backfield on the right side of the field.

Wells sprinted un-touched into the endzone for a 15-yard TD.

The Ellis PAT gave the Shells the lead at 7-0 with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

The second drive for Hillsboro also ended poorly as they reached the Shells' 21 before a flag pushed them back and forced a punt that pinned Roxana back to the six-yard line.

Coach Reed's club finally finished a drive for points in the final minutes of the first half.

One of the few Roxana mistakes in the first half was a fumble by Graves that was recovered by Duff at the Hillsboro 35.

A 12-play drive covering 65-yards got the Hiltoppers even at halftime.

Two key pass plays by Duff, one on a fourth-and-three from the Roxana 48 and the second on the TD pass, tied the score.

Stewart caught the first one as he stretched out falling to the ground to for a 16-yard gain to the Shells' 32.

With a third-and-10 from the 19, Duff found junior wide receiver Zander Wells in the right corner of the endzone covered by Ellis.

Wells managed to come down with the ball for a score with just :38.4 remaining in the half.

Compton kicked the PAT as the teams went to halftime at 7-7.

Four exchanged punts, two per team in the third quarter set up Roxana's second score and the eventual game-winning TD.

Starting the scoring drive on their own 20, the Shells got a pair of runs by Graves sandwiched around a pass completion from Walleck to junior tight end Aidan Briggs that set up a second-and-seven at the 34.

Then Coach DeVries inserted Katzmarek into the backfield for a play designed for a sweep to the left side of the field in front of the Roxana bench.

The 5-9 sophomore found daylight on the left sideline and never looked back.

Sixty-six yards later the Shells had broken the tie with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter.

Ellis was wide left on his PAT attempt, leaving the score at 13-7 Roxana.

Hillsboro's final drive of the contest started at their own 14 with 8:22 remaining.

The running game that they had used to move the ball down the field throughout the game rolled the Hiltoppers into to Roxana side of the field.

However the Shells put an end to the drive and essentially the Hillsboro season.

Facing a fourth-and-six on the Roxana 44, Duff rolled out to his left and threw a pass downfield.

Ellis leaped up and made the interception, returning it to the Hillsboro 48.

“Experience is huge and those are two sophomores that started as freshman (last year) and so they're sophomores but this is their 19th varsity football game. So with that comes experience, not age or maturity so they're used to this.”

Although senior running back Nik Ward unexpectedly ran out of bounds leaving the Shells at third-and-four at the Hiltoppers' 42, Graves rushed to the left side of the Hillsboro defense for 37-yards to the five-yard line.

Ward finished with nine carries for 28-yards on the day for the Shells.

Graves could have scored on the play but the junior runner went down on purpose to keep the clock moving.

Roxana ran out the clock on consecutive kneel downs to punch its ticket into the second round.

“We were kind of clicking there (final drive) but we had a negative play and then the interception,” said Coach Reed.

The Shells have now won three-straight games and they played five games against playoff teams, including the win on Saturday. (Robinson, Red Bud, Breese Central, East Alton-Wood River, Hillsboro).

“We played a tough schedule. I think we play enough playoff caliber teams to get ready for this. That's the goal. We want to build a team, a roster and a program that is able to win in Week 10 and move forward,” said Coach DeVries.

Since the Shells were a road team in the opening round, they will now host top-seed and 10-0 Prairie Central next Saturday at 2:00 pm.

“What can you say? We get a shot at number one (Prairie Central) on our home turf,” said Coach DeVries. “Let's give it a whirl. Let's give it a shot. We talked about it this week. We played nine weeks to earn a shot at Week 10. And we played well enough for a shot to play in Week 11.”