JEROMESVILLE – The celebratory postgame music boomed off the walls of the Hillsdale locker room Friday night at Community Stadium.
In what was one of the biggest Week 5 games in all of Ohio, the Falcons picked up one of their loudest statement victories in program history, holding off visiting powerhouse Dalton in an instant classic, 35-31.
Ranked No. 10 in the Division VII state poll, Hillsdale survived an explosive, 21-point first quarter from the Bulldogs, who were coming off a state runner-up season and ranked No. 10 in Division VI entering the night.
Both teams came in averaging more than 40 points per game, but Hillsdale scored in every quarter and held Dalton (3-2, 1-1 Wayne County Athletic League) to just 10 points after the first period.
(Photos by Doug Haidet)
The Falcons are 5-0 for the first time since 2019 and put themselves in position to make a run at their first WCAL title in a decade.
“(In 2022), we were able to beat Dalton here, too, on our home field, where I really don’t know if there was anyone outside our team that believed we had a shot,” Hillsdale head coach Trevor Cline said. “Tonight, this is right up there with that win – a big win against a very good program, a program that was just in a state final last year.
“It’s a big statement win for us.”
Since that game in 2022 – a 27-12 Hillsdale upset – the Bulldogs had posted a 22-4 record. Their only losses had been at the hands of Ohio juggernauts Kirtland and Maria Stein Marion Local, and the Bulldogs had won 12 straight WCAL games.
They looked like they might be off and running once again Friday night, flashing tons of big-play talent during a breakneck first quarter that saw them roll up 160 yards of offense and three touchdowns.
“Even though our defense is great,” Cline said, “we knew it might end up being a shootout like what it was.”
Quarterback Carter Hignight ran in a 12-yard touchdown for the game’s first score.
Hillsdale answered on the next play from scrimmage when QB Kael Lewis found Hayden McFadden downfield for a 69-yard TD pass on a flea-flicker.
The Bulldogs punched back with a 30-yard pass from receiver Brady Hignight to Coy Wenger.
But the Falcons answered five plays later when – after a pair of DHS penalties gave the hosts two first downs – Lewis rolled right and heaved a pass to senior receiver Holland Young for a 29-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone.
Less than a minute later, Carter Hignight linked up with Sammy Tomlinson for a 44-yard catch-and-run TD up the right sideline to make it 21-14 heading into the second quarter.
But yet again – not to be outdone – the Falcons dialed up a scintillating hook-and-ladder play for an 80-yard touchdown. Lewis hit McFadden for 10 yards on the first leg of the play before the receiver pitched it to running back Owen Sloan, who sprinted the last 70 yards to paydirt to make it 21-21.
The teams combined for 42 points in less than 14 minutes and it felt like every trick play was being pulled out of the playbook.
“They’re very balanced; they can run, throw, and they did exactly that,” said first-year Bulldogs coach Ray Leek, whose first head coaching job was in 2019 at Mapleton before he left to lead the program at Cambridge for four seasons.
“It’s the WCAL, so it’s always going to be tough. You’ve got well-coached teams and they’ve got a lot of talent.”
“You know that both teams are going to be aggressive in big situations like this and both teams obviously were,” Cline added. “Both teams executed the trick plays really well.”
The defenses, however, began to flash their talent from there.
Hillsdale’s Jake Haven picked up a pair of sacks in the second quarter while Dalton’s Brady Hignight intercepted Lewis in the end zone with 6:22 before the half.
The Falcons forced a second turnover on downs inside their own territory after that, but couldn’t convert on a 24-yard field goal try just before intermission.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game and a close game and it played out exactly like that,” Leek said.
Brady Hignight booted a 27-yard field goal to put Dalton up 24-21 midway through the third quarter. But Sloan punched in a 1-yard score on the next drive to give the Falcons their first lead, 28-24, with 3:28 left in the third.
That advantage was short-lived when Carter Hignight slipped a tackle and ran in a 13-yard TD that put the Bulldogs back on top 31-28 just before the fourth quarter.
But it was the final quarter that seemed to bring out the entire crew of playmakers for the Falcons.
Facing a fourth-and-4 on the first play of the fourth quarter, Hillsdale drew the Bulldogs offsides to secure a first down.
What arguably was the play of the game followed, as Lewis looked for Young down the right sideline. The senior and Dalton’s Gabe Clark fought for the jump ball and Young pulled it away for a 40-yard gain to the DHS 25, springing to his feet to celebrate and pump up the home crowd.
“Kael just told me, ‘I’m throwing the ball your way,’ so I knew I had to go get it,” said Young, who continued his huge senior season with 122 yards on eight receptions. “I saw the ball fall in his hands and I just took it.”
Lewis (18-of-24, 291 yards, 2 touchdowns passing) found Young for another 15-yard gain to move the chains, setting up another 1-yard scoring plunge from Sloan with 8:18 left to play.
Amazingly, those were the game’s final points.
Hillsdale senior defensive linemen Lincoln Jones and Bradey Krichbaum both had a sack and quarterback pressures on Carter Hignight (16-of-24, 246 yards passing) in the fourth, and Dalton’s final drive stalled near midfield with 1:15 to play.
“It didn’t start off as well as we wanted it to, but in the second half we really started to get pressure and figure things out,” Jones said. “We got more aggressive and just broke them down over time.”
The Bulldogs had saved their final three timeouts, but Sloan capped off a monster night by securing the game-clinching first down.
The standout junior running back finished with 161 rushing yards and three touchdowns, giving him 70 points through just five weeks and pushing him toward 2,000 career rushing yards.
“It was electric here,” Sloan said. “Everyone was going crazy, we’ve got good fans here and it was just a good ballgame.
“We knew what we were going to throw at them (early in the game) and we knew they were going to throw stuff at us, so we just had to be prepared and disciplined.”
McFadden totaled six catches for 124 yards, moving him to almost 1,000 receiving yards for his career.
Falcons junior AJ Brown, meanwhile, hit all five of his PAT kicks in the game, the first of which gave him his 100th career PAT conversion (now 104/113 in his career).
Hillsdale will have another test next week when it travels to Smithville (4-1, 1-1), which topped Waynedale (1-4, 1-1) on Friday night, 19-14. Dalton will host Northwestern (1-4, 0-2).
After finishing no higher than third in the WCAL for the last five seasons, the Falcons feel like everything is in front of them as they enter the second half.
“We feel great right now and we just want to keep the train rolling,” Young said.
“For the past four years we’ve been trying to (climb in the WCAL standings),” added Jones, “so this is definitely a huge momentum swing for that.”