0
0
NASHVILLE – Brentwood’s offense and defense each had a good night finding the end zone on Thursday.
Both units registered three touchdowns each as the Bruins pulled away in the second quarter en route to a 42-7 victory at Hillsboro.
Things happened quickly for the Bruins (4-2), as Will Adcock jumped in front of a Kordale Keel pass and returned it 36 yards for a 14-0 Bruin lead early in the second quarter. Roughly one minute later, Johnny Silvestri plucked another Keel attempt out of the air and raced 35 yards to the end zone, finally getting in after the pile that had gathered around him moved enough to push him across the goal line.
“I was just there at the right time and made some plays,” Silvestri said. “I was not going down at the 1-yard line.”
Hillsboro (0-6) responded quickly, as Thaddeus Johnson took the next snap and found a hole that provided him room for an 80-yard touchdown run. Johnson finished with 125 yards on 10 carries to pace the Burros.
“We gave great effort,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to continue to keep working.”
However, that’s all the scoring the Burros could muster as their offense couldn’t otherwise break through against a Brentwood squad that entered the game allowing 12.8 points per contest.
“What’s really cool is kids making the most of their opportunities,” Brentwood head coach Clint Finch said. “Johnny Silvestri isn’t a starter, but he comes in and scores two touchdowns. That’s the first cool thing about it – a kid that gets to come into the game and make something positive happen.”
Kyler Green forced a fumble by Hillsboro’s Jarvaron Bradford and Silvestri scooped it up, returning it 39 yards for his second defensive score of the first half and sending the Bruins to halftime with a 35-7 lead.
“I was caught off guard by the second (touchdown), but the first one was crazy,” Silvestri said.
Offensively, Homzi Nassar handled the scoring work for the Bruins, accounting for all three touchdowns that unit provided. Nassar finished with 74 yards on 12 carries to lead Brentwood’s ground attack. He found the end zone in the first quarter from 11 yards out, a second quarter TD came from 10 yards away and his 8-yard score in the third quarter triggered the mercy rule running clock.
“He’s a hard-nosed runner,” Finch said of Nassar. “When he gets behind his pads and gets downhill, he does a really, really good job. And he had to tonight because Jackson Lowe went out with an injury early on. He had to be the workhorse tonight and we were really pleased with it.”
The Burros are down 11 starters due to a rash of injuries that has plagued them since the preseason, though head coach Anthony Brown isn’t dwelling on that fact.
“It’s just tough missing a lot of guys,” Brown said. “We’ve got to find a way to make it happen. We’ve got to find a way to turn water into wine a little bit.”
Hillsboro had played a pair of close contests against East Nashville and Green Hill in the past two weeks, but things unraveled quickly on Thursday.
The younger Burros are getting meaningful snaps and Brown hopes it will contribute to added depth in the future.
“It’s definitely going to be valuable going forward,” Brown said. “I’d say we had nine to 12 sophomores playing considerable minutes or starting on Friday nights.”
Hillsboro will keep searching for its first victory of the season in a region game at Hunters Lane next week, while Brentwood gears up for a crucial Region 7-6A home contest against Independence.
