ROXANA — The start of the 2016 football season for the Roxana Shells hasn’t been one of their best, having been soundly defeated by both Carlinville and Pana on the road in the opening two weeks.
But in Friday night’s home opener at Charlie Raich Field, the Shells kept battling and plugging away, showing tremendous resolve despite dropping a 20-12 decision to Hillsboro in a South Central Conference matchup.
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“Overall, I was very pleased,” Shells coach Pat Keith said after the game. “In the first half, we played good defense and we moved the ball a little bit.”
That was the tone for the first half, as defense was the order of a warm and humid evening. The Shells scored first on a Jordan Hawkins one yard run in the second term. The convert was missed however, and the Shells led 6-0.
The Hilltoppers came back later in the period on a seven yard run, with the conversion good to give Hillsboro a 7-6 lead going into intermission.
The second half started on the same defensive tone, with both teams exchanging punts. On the third possession of the half, a fumbled pitchout by Roxana was recovered by Ray Wille, who returned the ball 32 yards for a touchdown. Jordan Gregg added the convert to put the Hilltoppers ahead 14-6.
The Shells responded brilliantly with a nine-play, 83-yard drive on the ensuing possession. Michael Cherry and Hawkins took turned carrying the ball, Cherry gaining 37 yards on a nice outside run and another 11 later in the drive, while Hawkins ripped off a nice 10 yarder for another first down. Cherry took the ball around the left end for a seven yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the quarter. A two-point conversion run was stopped short, but the Shells were within two points on 14-12.
The Shell defense continued to play well, not allowing the Hilltoppers to gain much ground. Roxana then got the break they needed when the Shells recovered a fumble on their own 18 to put them in business.
Three plays later however, bad luck struck Roxana. Hillsboro blocked a punt that was recovered on the Shells 20, which set the Hilltoppers on a seven play, 20-yard scoring march. It ended with Christian Hernandez’s 2-yard touchdown run up the middle with 1:13 left in regulation. The convert was missed however, making the score 20-12 and giving Roxana life.
The Shells almost punished the Hilltoppe conversionr miss when Cherry took the ensuing kickoff back to the Hillsboro 35. But three plays later, Marcus Hartnett’s pass was intercepted, clinching the win for the Hilltoppers.
“We have two kids who can do things,” Keith said in reference to his offensive duo of Cherry and Hawkins. “Now we need keep improving, find some more weapons and start winning some games.”
And he’s very happy how his players responded this week in preparing for the game.
“We had a pretty good week, and the kids really responded well,” Keith said. “If they keep working hard and get better, we should be OK.”
That portends well for Roxana’s next game, a week four home matchup against Vandalia, with the kickoff time set for 7 pm.
