SLUH rides dominant first half to victory at Hillsboro, improves to 2-0

By Joe Harris | Special to the Post-Dispatch

HILLSBORO — It won’t show up in the box score, but sophomore Tyler Kozminske’s effort in a lopsided game made an impression on his St. Louis U. High teammates on Friday night.

Up by 28 points in the fourth quarter at Hillsboro, the ball popped loose on a Jr. Billikens quarterback keeper. Hillsboro’s Tripp Lambrich scooped up the loose ball and raced down the field, but Kozminske tracked him down 60 yards later.

“My dad and I always talk about it, you know, if you're not playing too well, you can always control your attitude and your hustle, and that's something they can never take away from you and you can always give 100%,” Kozminske said. “I didn't know if I could get to him, but I ended up tracking him down.”

The play turned out to save a touchdown as Hillsboro was stopped and SLUH went on to secure a 35-14 win in the nonconference football game.

“He's got a bright future,” SLUH coach Adam Cruz said of Kozminske. “Yeah, he had a tough night out wide, so I'm glad that that didn't mentally affect him.”

Not much affected SLUH (2-0), No. 6 in the large school rankings, as it raced out to a 35-point lead in the first half.

Jordan Taylor ran for 151 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown for the Jr. Billikens. Kyren Eleby threw for three touchdowns and Zach Allen caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for another score.

“Defensively, we were tackling well, we schemed it up pretty well,” Cruz said. “You know, I really like the aggression of this team and all that kind of stuff. Offensively, it took us a bit. We were able to run the ball. We were able to get some good passes in the first half, and then special teams, that's the second week in a row our punt return’s made a huge play.”

Sloppy start

Hillsboro turned the ball over on each of its first two possessions with an errant pitch and a bad snap, respectively.

SLUH lost three yards before turning it over on downs on its first gift but took advantage of the second one, converting on a fourth down before Eleby found Tyler Termini for a 22-yard touchdown pass to break the scoreless tie midway through the first quarter.

Highlight-reel score

Allen added to the SLUH lead with an electrifying 73-yard punt return late in the first quarter. Allen broke an initial tackle at the Jr. Billikens 27 before reversing field and breaking several more tackles before stumbling into the end zone.

Allen said he was exhausted when he finally hit paydirt.

“I didn't even want to celebrate,” Allen said. “Usually, I'm a big celebrator. I got in the end zone and straight to the sideline.”

Taking care of business

SLUH found the end zone on three of its four drives in the second quarter to take any drama out of the game by halftime.

The Jr. Billikens started the barrage by turning a bad snap on a Hawks punt into a 22-yard touchdown pass from Eleby to Allen. Taylor scored on a 14-yard touchdown run midway through the frame and Eleby found Keenan Harris for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 22 seconds left to give SLUH a 35-0 lead at the break.

“Whenever our offense is clicking, I feel like we're unstoppable,” Allen said. “And I think we had a good week, and I think we're going to keep our momentum built into next week.”

Too many mistakes

Hillsboro scored twice in the second half. A 24-yard touchdown pass from Braxton Chazelle to Auston Ross stopped the running clock late in the third quarter and Brady Armstrong scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome three first half turnovers and a slew of bad snaps that led to drive-killing losses.

“They're a very good football team, and we knew to make it a ball game we were going to have to, you know, make play mistake free ball,” Hillsboro coach Bill Sucharski said. “We obviously did not do that in the first half and the kids know that.

“And you know, we went in halftime, and I just told them, ‘Look, there's nothing magic on the chalkboard that we're going to be able to fix here.’ I said we've just got to fix ourselves. Come out, get a stop, stop the running clock to give us more playing time and get more snaps, and just get become a better football team the second half.”

Honoring heroes

It was Hillsboro’s fifth annual MIA/POW game, which featured a ceremony in the gym prior to the game. It’s a tradition that started with Lt. Michael Blassie, a Vietnam veteran whose remains were identified from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1998. Blassie, who was a SLUH alum, was adopted by Hillsboro due to his call sign “Hawk Zero Two,” which is displayed on the back of their helmets.

Blassie’s family was in attendance as was Marine Sgt. Rocky Sickmann, who was honored with six others. Sickmann was a U.S. Marine stationed at the American Embassy in Iran when militants stormed the embassy on Nov. 4, 1979. Sickmann and 51 others were held prisoner for 444 days in what is known as the Iran Hostage Crisis.