The Cougars visited the high scoring Knights on a cool evening that was perfect for football. Things got started when Lane Miller made a nice recovery of the opening kickoff which was dangerously bouncing around and the Cougars took the ball at the 30. In two plays they had a first down and things looked promising but a fumble on the next play gave the ball to Hillsdale in Cougar territory. Six plays later the score was 7-0 Knights. On the next possession Adler Halterman ran for a first down, but the drive stalled and the Cougars turned it over on downs. From midfield the Knights needed 11 plays to score on a pass from the 19 yard line and it was 14-0. On their third possession, the Cougars went on a grinding 18 play drive mostly using the Jumbo formation. Offensive player of the week Harrison Tobias scored the touchdown over the left side as part of his 93 yards on the night. Halterman pounded it straight ahead for the two point conversion making it 14-8. Ali Zavala was awarded scout team player of the week for his overall effort and good looks running the ball. The Knights drove to the Cougar 12 yard line but the defense stiffened and forced an incompletion on 4th and 5 and a few plays later it was halftime. To start the second half, the Knights drove the ball to the 12 yard line again but defensive player of the week Carlos Moore and his teammates forced a field goal to limit the damage and a 17-8 Hillsdale lead. After another intentionally short kick off was smartly fielded by Hermes McClellan, the offense got going. Eight straight running plays went 45 yards, including two 10 yard runs by Tobias and an 11 yard sweep over the right side by Connor Heath for the score. After senior kicker Joel Delgado booted the PAT through the uprights the score narrowed to 17-15. Hillsdale scored on their next possession and after a penalty put the Cougars behind the chains, special teams player of the week Roman Grabowski long snapped to Aaron Contreras who had a nice 39 yard punt with no return. On second down, the Knights running back took a run 54 yards for a touchdown to stretch the lead to 31-15. On the ensuing drive the Cougars brought the ball out over the 40 yard line but suffered a fumble which was recovered by Hillsdale who were able to run out the clock. There were missed assignments and turnovers which hurt the Cougars but also improvements and good plays to build from going forward. The Cougars host The Kings Academy Friday night at 7 PM as PAL divisional play continues.
This week’s Community Cougar is no other than former principal, John Nazar. Mr. Nazar’s love for his school and community still shine through in his retirement. The Cougars are looking forward to having Mr. Nazar back on campus this week.