Hillsborough football rebounds with big win over Plainfield

PLAINFIELD - Coming off last week's 20-point loss, Hillsborough High School football coach Kevin Carty stressed the need for his team to get off to a fast start on Saturday at Hub Stine Field.

Those plans went awry early as Plainfield's Alle Boone sprinted 52 yards with the opening kickoff, and the Cardinals surged to the Hillsborough five, facing a third-and-one.

MORE: GOV. LIVINGSTON FOOTBALL BATTLES TO WIN OVER NORTH PLAINFIELD

The Raiders stopped Plainfield on the next two plays, seizing control of the line of scrimmage and never relinquishing it for the rest of the afternoon as Hillsborough forged a  35-0 victory to improve to 2-1.

Junior Tyler Boatwright powered the Hillsborough attack by running for 156 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries, an average of 12 per try. Southpaw classmate Matt Moore passed for the Raiders' other two scores and was an efficient six-of-nine for 118 yards.

But much of the credit goes to the Hillsborough defense, which posted its second shutout in three outings and did not give the Cardinals a whiff of the end zone after that opening drive. The Raiders maintained superior field position all afternoon as each of its last four scoring drives began in Plainfield territory, while the Cardinals last four possession all ended inside its own 30.

READ: SOUTH PLAINFIELD FOOTBALL RALLIES FOR WIN OVER WOODBRIDGE

"It was frustrating. Coming off a loss we really wanted to get in and get this thing started well, so it wasn't what we wanted, a little bit of adversity for us," Carty conceded about the opening moments. "It was nice to see our guys steps up and do the things, playing within themselves, and doing what they needed to do. I'm happy with the performance."

The Raiders broke the game open by capitalizing on generous field position to tack on three touchdowns in the second period, each coming after the defense limited Plainfield to a three-and-out deep in its own territory.

"It was nice for us too be able to spread the ball around," Carty added, after 11 of his players got touches on offense. "We blocked them well and I was happy with the complete offensive performance, which we needed."

Hillsborough's final touchdown followed a fumble recovery by DeAndre Curtis at the Plainfield 37. Two plays later Boatwright headed off right tackle for his third touchdown on a 22-yard run, his last touch of the afternoon, for the final 35-0 margin that started a running clock midway through the third quarter.

Plainfield amassed just 49 yards of total offense and managed just three first downs, not caused by defensive penalties, for the entire contest.

The Cardinals yielded exactly 35 points for the third time in as many games, certainly not the type of consistency that first-year coach and Plainfield alum Corey Tucker is seeking as he and his staff strive to rebuild this formerly dominant program.

HILLSBOROUGH  (2-1) 7-21-7-7-35

PLAINFIELD (0-3) 0-0-0-0-0

SCORING SUMMARY

H - Boatwright 1 run (Tatevosov kick)

H - Boatwright 5 run (Tatevosov kick)

H - Parham 29 pass from Moore (Tatevosov kick)

H - Pollok 9 pass from Moore (Tatevosov kick) byards

H - Boatwright 22 run (Tatevosov kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - H: Boatwright 13-156, Hendrix 4-31, Amankwaa 3-15, Ciccone 5-5, Bocz

on 1-2, Curtis 1-0, Moore 1-minus 10; P: Fort-Fagg 7-18, Porter 3-14, Woodard 5-12, Kearney 15-12, Daniels 4-minus 7.

Passing - H: Moore 6-9-0-118, Ciccone 1-2-0-14; P: Woodard 1-3-0-0, Daniels 0-2-0-0.

Receiving - H:  Parham 2-47, Jansen 2-38, Pollok 2-24, Brown 1-23; P: Boone 1-0.