Hilliard emerges as star in Patterson’s win

No one has to tell Berwick High head football coach Mike Thomas how good Patterson Lumberjack running back Kenny Hilliard truly is.

He learned for himself on the first play of Friday night’s game.

And so did his team.

Hilliard opened the night taking a handoff from quarterback Terrance Johnson around the right side for a 76-yard score.

By night’s end, Hilliard added three more touchdowns and finished with 279 yards as he powered the Lumberjacks to a 63-14 win. His other scoring runs were 16, 19 and 69 yards.

“He’s one heck of a back,” the Panthers’ coach said. “And we had problems tackling. Not a good combination.”

In the classic rivalry game, which was laced with a fair share of trash talking, Hilliard stole the show, propelling his team to a 28-0 first quarter lead.

“They were talking down to us like we weren’t ready to come here and win,” the sophomore running back said. “We wanted to prove that we are for real. It was important to come out and start fast just like we did.”

Hilliard’s numbers came in only 37 minutes of play. He spent the second half of the third quarter and all of the fourth watching his team continue to rout Berwick.

“You know me, I wanted to run some more,” he said. “There’s nothing like actually being out there on the field.”

Even in Hilliard’s absence, the Lumberjacks didn’t miss a beat.

Patterson’s Jaydrick Declouette (44-yard reception), Willis Verdine (49-yard interception return), Josh Jones (12-yard reception), Antoine Todd (eight-yard run) and Justice Jones (39-yard run) all found the end zone.

The Panther’s Theron Malise accounted for all of Berwick’s points with scoring runs of 40 and eight yards.

With the win, the Lumberjacks (4-2, 2-0) set themselves up for a playoff position with only three games left in the season.

Patterson head coach Tommy Minton said it was important to take the remainder of the schedule on a game-by-game basis.

“It’s a small district so you can’t take bumps,” he said. “You have to win the district championship if you want to compete. We move on to next week. We have to take care of our business.”

It’s back to the drawing board for the Panthers, whose 4-2 overall record contains more wins than they’ve seen over the last six years combined.

Coach Thomas too has playoff aspirations for the Panthers (4-2, 1-1), but isn’t talking playoffs until they get there.

“Life gives you setbacks,” the coach said. “The true character of a person comes out when things are not going right. Everything has been going great. We are going to have our setbacks, but we will move on and get ready for Franklin.”

Thomas said his team is better than Friday night’s score indicates. The coach said he intends to use the Patterson game as a learning experience for his young team.

“We’re not in our finest hour,” he said following Friday’s loss. “We took a good old-fashioned butt-whipping, but I think the guys learned a lot about themselves tonight. We are out to win every single day. We are going to be in the same mindset the next week and the next.”