By Todd Jorgenson
On a night when the Hillcrest offense appeared to be already in midseason form, the defense might have stolen the spotlight during Friday’s season opener.
The Panthers dominated neighborhood rival W.T. White in a 36-0 shutout at Franklin Field, starting their campaign with a victory for the first time since 2021.
Hillcrest fell to the Longhorns to open each of the past two seasons, but used athleticism and experience to reverse its fortunes.
“These guys have been working since January for tonight. I’m proud of the way they played,” said third-year Hillcrest head coach Adrian Madise. “It hurt last year, the way we lost [in overtime]. We kind of gave it away last year, so a lot of the things we worked on was making sure we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
Jayden Harris rushed for 124 and two first-half touchdowns, while the Hillcrest defense forced five turnovers, recorded a safety, and controlled the line of scrimmage all night. The first two takeaways jump-started touchdown drives that gave the Panthers (1-0) an early 14-0 advantage.
A fumble recovery on the opening W.T. White possession led to a 9-yard scoring run by Harris. Following an interception by Zion Stevens-Braziel moments later, Hillcrest reached the end zone again on a 2-yard plunge by Justin Elliott.
Hillcrest added touchdowns on its next two drives, including a 21-yard pass from Kemen Fox to Wilford Finley Jr. just before halftime, ballooning the margin to 28-0.
Every time the Longhorns (0-1) threatened to score, the Hillcrest defense stiffened. A first-quarter WTW drive that began with a 37-yard reception by Lovell Neal reached the Hillcrest 11-yard line before ending with a missed field goal.
The Panthers also made plays on special teams, with kicker Gabriel Vivero knocking through two field goals and forcing WTW into poor field position with deep kickoffs.
The first of those third-quarter field goals came after a muffed punt recovered by Hillcrest’s Luis Montoya near midfield. Fox and Finley connected for 23 yards on the ensuing snap.
With Harris as the workhorse, Fox was efficient behind center for the Panthers. Making his first varsity start, the Lewisville transfer completed his first six passes and finished 8-of-13 for 101 yards. On defense, Banks Bushart and Cristian Zatarain added late fumble recoveries to preserve the shutout.
Youth and inexperience showed for the Longhorns, who managed only 39 total yards after halftime aside from the miscues. However, the WTW defense tightened in the second half and didn’t allow a touchdown.
Second-year head coach Bryson Lewis hopes that provides some momentum heading into next week’s home opener against Garland.
“You’ve got to execute and protect the ball. Costly mistakes at the beginning put us in a horrible position against a good team,” Lewis said. “You go through these types of growing pains during this time of year. We’ll get it fixed and get back to the drawing board.”
Meanwhile, Hillcrest has a chance to begin 2-0 for the first time in five years in its first road test next week at Frisco Centennial.
“This is Year 3, so we were kind of advanced in our install and threw a lot at them,” Madise said. “The guys were locked in, and this was a good way to start it off.”
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