WARE — Hunter Millier turned Friday night into his personal highlight film.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior scored four first-half touchdowns and finished with six scores to power Ware High School to a 49-6 victory over Pioneer Valley Regional School in Tri-County League football action Friday night.
“They’re a good team, and they beat us up,” said Panthers’ head coach Paul Worth, whose squad battled as well as they could despite starting with only 18 healthy bodies and losing three during the contest. “Their back (Millier) is really good.”
Millier put the Indians (2-0, 1-0 TCL) on the board on their first play from scrimmage, catching a screen pass from quarterback Ryan Johnson and outracing the Panthers’ defenders 67 yards for the score. Johnson booted the extra point for a 7-0 lead just 20 seconds into the contest.
Pioneer (1-1, 0-1 TCL) was able to catch a brief momentum swing when Wyatt Keith converted a fake punt into a first down before the drive stalled and he punted it away.
Ware took over at its 29 and marched 71 yards in 10 plays for its second TD, as Millier finished off the drive with an 8-yard run. Johnson booted the PAT for a 14-0 advantage.
Jake Wallace snagged a nice interception for Pioneer at its own 12, and the Panthers were able to move the ball to midfield before the drive bogged down and Keith was tackled at midfield, well short of a first down on an attempted fake punt.
The Indians needed only four plays to reach paydirt, as Millier dove in from the 1 after setting up his score with a nifty 37-yard run. Johnson’s third PAT kick made it 21-0.
A blocked punt on the next Panther possession set up Ware at the Pioneer 46, and Millier capped off a brief three-play scoring drive with a 28-yard run. Johnson split the uprights to give the Indians a 28-0 halftime advantage.
Pioneer went three-and-out on its first drive of the third quarter and punted away. Johnson fielded Keith’s punt at the Ware 42, cut to his left and outran the coverage for a 58-yard touchdown on the return. He added the conversion kick to make it 35-0.
Millier touched the ball only twice in the second half, both after Pioneer turnovers — his first resulted in a 59-yard sprint to the end zone, and the second an equally impressive 62-yard jaunt, upping the margin to 49-6.
Millier finished with 239 yards rushing in just nine carries and caught two passes for another 77 yards.
Indians’ head coach Bill Gallagher immediately cleared the bench after Millier’s sixth TD and gave his starters the rest of the night off.
Pioneer got on the scoreboard with 3:07 left, driving 88 yards in 11 plays. Tristan Dresser, who carried seven times for 45 yards on the drive, barreled in from the 1 for the score. Keith’s PAT attempt hit the upright and was no good.
Dresser led Pioneer with 80 yards on 19 hauls.