“Overall, a great win against a good Sebeka team,” assessed Hillcrest Head Coach Korey Fry.  “Offensively, we played our best game of the year.  The Caden Fischer to Joel Bowman connection was on full display with 4 TD’s, but having Evan Lindgren fully back in the rotation this week gave us the ground game we were missing.  Defensively, we played very well in stopping their 3-back attack.  Gavin Knutson led the way with 16 tackles.  We gave up a few scores when rotating younger guys in late in the game, but that’s how we get better.  With a long season, we have to get our young guys in.”

Sebeka took the early 6-0 lead, just 26 seconds into the game on a 22 yard TD run by Mason Plautz.  Lindgren then returned the kick-off 80 yards for a touchdown and Endre Okland’s extra-point kick gave Hillcrest a 7-6 lead.  The Comets never lost the lead after that.  Fischer and Bowman connected on TD passes of 30 and 20 yards and Okland booted two more PAT’s for a 21-6 lead after one quarter.

Fischer hit Bowman on a 60-yard scoring play with 6:11 left in the half for a 27-6 HLA lead.  With 13 seconds left in the half Fischer hooked up with Zayne Weinrich on a 12 yard TD and it was 33-6.  On the final play of the half, Lindgren scooped up a fumble and went 53 yards for a touchdown.  With Okland’s extra-point kick the Comets led 40-6 at halftime.

A 26 yard run by Fischer with 11:17 left in the third made it 46-6.  Sebeka then scored their second touchdown of the night on a 6 yard run by Hank Tellers with 6:454 remaining in the quarter.   Tellers conversion run put the score at 46-14.  Fischer and Bowman then got together on a 48 yard TD pass and Okland’s kick made it 53-14.  Sebeka cut the score to 53-20 with a 7 yard run by Tellers with 35 seconds left in the third.  The quarter ended with Hillcrest holding a 53-20 advantage.

Levi Stevens hit Tellers with a 66 yard TD pass and Eion Ness ran in the two-point conversion to make it 53-28 with 10:50 remaining in the contest.  A five yard TD run by Tellers brought the Trojans to with 19 points at 53-34 with 3:56 on the clock.  Hillcrest closed out the scoring with a 55 yard TD run by Lindgren and another PAT kick by Okland for a final of 60-34.

Fischer completed 16-of-21 passes for 307 yards and 5 TD’s, while running for 40 yards on 8 carries.  Bowman caught 12 passes for 280 yards and 4 scores.  Lindgren was the leading rusher with 105 yards on 8 rushing attempts.  Defensively, Knutson had 16 tackles, 4 assisted tackles and a fumble recovery, while Lindgren had 10 tackles, 4 assisted tackles and fumble recovery for a TD.  Micah Bermel finished with 10 tackles and 2 assisted tackles, Fischer had 9 tackles and an interception, David Stephen-Wangboje registered a quarterback sack, and Weinrich recovered a fumble.

“These young men have developed and are continuing to learn the game each week,” noted Coach Fry.  “Overall, this is Hillcrest’s first time being .500 in six year.  Our goal is to continue to change that to become the norm.  Next week we are home for Senior Night against a tough Ortonville team.”