Hillsdale snatches victory from Hornet finger tips

By Carol McIntire

Editor

With 30 ticks left on the game clock in a regional semifinal game against the Hillsdale Falcons Friday night, the Malvern Hornets had victory within their grasp.

Coach Matt Chiurco’s team had just scored a 33-yard touchdown to go head of the Falcons 48-40. 

All they had to do was keep the high-powered Falcon offense out of the end zone for the final 30.5 seconds and they would be headed for a Division VII regional final game the following week, the first in school history

It almost happened. 

Malvern’s bend-but-don’t break defense kicked off to the Falcons. The play took 10 seconds off the clock and the return placed the ball on the Hillsdale 36-yard line. An 11-yard pass completion moved the ball to the 47-yard line. On the next play, Rodney Smith almost intercepted a Hillsdale pass, which was then almost caught by a Falcon receiver. 

The clock read 15.5 seconds.

The Hornet defense flushed Hillsdale’s young quarterback, sophomore Kael Lewis, from the pocket and forced him to throw the ball out of bounds on the next play.

The clock read 10.5 second.

On the third-down play Lewis threw a short pass to receiver Hayden McFadden who reversed his motion and ran to the Malvern 36-yard line. 

Only 1.8 second remained in the game. 

Well aware that Lewis had thrown a 37-yard Hail Mary pass with no time on the second quarter clock that was caught in the end zone to give the Falcons a 23-20 lead at intermission, the Hornet defense knew what was coming. 

Lewis took the snap, dropped back, was chased by the Hornet defense and threw up a Hail Mary pass. 

Time almost stood still as the defense, lined up across the front line of the end zone, jumped as the football spiraled toward them. Hornet fans cheered as it appeared the defense would knock the ball down or intercept it, then fell silent as the ball was tipped by Malvern players and fell into the arms of Hayden McFadden in the back of the end zone.

Victory had been snatched from Hornet fingertips and Hillsdale celebrated a 50-48 victory.

“Obviously we’re hurt and rightly so,” an emotional Chiurco told the media after addressing his team. “I told them we are so proud of them.

“At the beginning of the fourth, we were down by 17 and our guys never gave up. It’s life…it is. Life is going to take you down sometimes. It kicked us down tonight. It kicked us down quite a few times and we kept getting back up and back up. It’s unfortunate we just ran out of time.” 

In a game of two high-powered offenses, both teams kept getting back up when the other knocked them down. 

Malvern took the opening kickoff and quickly marched to the Hillsdale 16-yard line only to be knocked down when quarterback Jared Witherow’s pass was intercepted by Kyle Turk and returned to the 15-yard line. 

Three plays later, Hornet lineman Braiden Miller intercepted Lewis’ pass and ran into the end zone for a Malvern touchdown. Witherow connected with Roy Simmons for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

The Falcons came roaring back. 

Junior running back Owen Sloan capped off a 58-yard, four-minute drive with an eight-yard touchdown to pull the Falcons to within 8-6.

Witherow engineered a 60-yard scoring drive on Malvern’s ensuing possession that was capped off with 36-yard pass to  Simmons. The two-point conversion failed, but the Hornets were in control 14-6.

The Falcons came roaring back. 

Just over a minute later, Hillsdale cut the lead to 14-13 on a 32-yard Sloan touchdown run and an A.J. Brown extra point. 

Hillsdale forced the only Malvern punt of the game on the Hornets’ next possession and then rode the legs of Sloan 67 yards before the drive stalled on the Malvern 13-yard line. Brown split the uprights with a 30-yard field goal to give Falcons their first lead of the game with 5:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Again, the Hornets pulled themselves up.

This time it was senior Drake Hutchison who found the end zone from three yards out to put his team back on top 20-16 after the two-point conversion attempt failed.

Only 29 seconds remained in the half, and it looked like the Hornets would go into the locker room with the lead. 

Hillsdale had other ideas. 

The Falcons returned Kaden Dennis’ kick to the 47-yard line on their side of the field. Lewis found McFadden for 10 yards to the 37. On a third-down play, as time expired, Lewis threw a Hail Mary to the corner side of the end zone that was caught for a 23-20 halftime lead. 

Having won the toss and opting to defer to the second half, Hillsdale received the second-half kickoff and, using the running game, drove 62 yards in nine plays. Sloan capped the drive off with a one yard run to give his team a 30-20 lead at the 7:34 mark of the third period.

The gap widened to 37-20 after Deacon Boreman intercepted a Witherow pass and, five plays later, Lewis threw a touchdown pass to McFadden.

If there was ever a time when a team could have thrown in the towel, it was on Malvern’s next possession.

On the second play from scrimmage, Turk intercepted a Witherow pass and returned it to the Malvern 19-yard line. It looked like the Falcons would put the game out of reach as they quickly marched to the Malvern 7-yard line. 

On a second and goal play, Lewis threw the ball over the middle and into the arms of Malvern junior Josh Untch in the end zone. Untch returned the ball to the 8-yard line, where a determined Malvern team, began a flurry of scoring.

Six plays later junior Julius Gore cut the deficit to 37-28 with a one-yard touchdown.

Hillsdale countered with a Sloan 12-yard score to extend the margin to 44-28.

15 second later, a Hillsdale defender deflected Witherow’s pass into the arms of Simmons, who raced 65 yards to the end zone. The two-point conversion failed, and Malvern trailed 44-34.

The Hornets successfully executed an on-side kick when Clayton Abel fell on Dennis’ kick on the Malvern 49-yard line. Witherow connected with Smith for 50 yards to the 1, and then went the final yard for the touchdown. The Hornets were back to within 44-40 with 4:36 left in the contest. 

The Malvern defense forced the only Falcon punt of the game on the next series. The ball rolled dead on the Malvern 27-yard line. With 2:07 left in the game, the Hornets went to work. Two passes to Simmons netted a first down. Passes to Untch and Simmons moved the ball to the Malvern 46 with 59 seconds left.

Just when it looked like the Falcons would halt the drive, Witherow found Rodney Smith across the middle on a fourth-and five call with 46.5 second on the clock. The ball sat on the Falcon 33-yard line. 

Witherow spiked the ball on first down to stop the clock with 37.9 seconds on the clock. Hillsdale took a time out, their final of the game. On second down, Witherow took the snap, quickly surveyed the field and found Simmons, who raced down the field and drug defenders across the goal line for a 33-yard touchdown. A Witherow to Smith pass was good for the two-point conversion that gave Malvern a 48-44 lead and what Malvern fans believed would be the victory, but it wasn’t to be. 

Malvern held a 434-135 advantage in rushing yards on the stat sheet while Hillsdale held a 291-38 yard in rushing. Simmons pulled in 11 passes for 215 yards and Smith seven for 171 yards.

Ball led the defense with 10 tackles, and one tackle for loss. Hutchison tallied seven tackles and Miller four tackles, three tackles for loss and one interception.   

“I couldn’t be prouder of our seniors and what they’ve accomplished over the last four years,” Chiurco said. “They went 38-10 and won three IVC North titles.”