By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth football team dropped its second consecutive game when it traveled to Brewster Friday to challenge the Southwest United Wildcats.SWU, the defending Southwest Ridge Conference champion, is a team H-BC-E needed to beat in order to challenge for a league title.The injury-plagued Patriots, however, were unable to knock off the 2003 state runners-up.SWU scored 20 first-quarter points and never looked back on the way to a 38-13 win."We basically gave them the first 20 points," said H-BC-E coach Dan Ellingson. "We gave them three touchdowns in the first quarter, and it’s hard to recover from that."The Patriots were generous to the Wildcats in the opening period.H-BC-E was attempting to punt after three unsuccessful plays to start the game when SWU blocked the kick and recovered the loose ball on the SWU one-yard line. Wildcat running back Nick Carlson scored on a one-yard run moments later to make it a 6-0 game.The Patriots were unable to mount a serious offensive threat with their second possession of the game, which ended with a punt. SWU took over and opened a 12-0 lead when Keith Rogers scored on a seven-yard run with 5:42 remaining in the first period.SWU scored with its third offensive possession of the game to cap its 20-point first quarter.Wildcat quarterback Jared Smith threw his first of three touchdown passes to Ryan Scheevel with 3:05 remaining in the opening stanza. Carlson carried in the two-point conversion to end the scoring in the period.H-BC-E threatened to score early in the second quarter, but a long drive ended with a fumble on the SWU one-yard line.Pushing the ball deep into SWU territory paid off for the Patriots moments later. H-BC-E defender Tom LeBoutiller picked off a pass and returned the ball 11 yards for a touchdown to make it a 20-6 game with 8:16 remaining in the second quarter.SWU answered H-BC-E’s challenge late in the second quarter, when Smith kept the ball during an option play and dashed 70 yards for a score with 2:45 left in the first half. The extra-point attempt failed, but the Wildcats sported a comfortable 26-6 lead they were able to take into the second half.The Wildcats struck quickly in the third quarter as the Smith-to-Scheevel combination clicked for a 37-yard touchdown pass 1:12 into the second half to give SWU a 32-6 lead.H-BC-E countered with what Ellingson said was the team’s most impressive drive of the game, which ended with quarterback Travis Broesder tossing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Cody Rozeboom. Adam Finke booted the extra point to cut SWU’s lead to 19 points at 32-19.SWU blanked the Patriots the rest of the night, and the hosts capped the scoring when Scheevel hauled in a nine-yard touchdown pass from Smith with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter.H-BC-E, which started the season with two straight wins, now stands at 2-2 as the injury list continues to expand. Broesder sustained a shoulder injury late in the SWU game, and Ellingson thinks his senior quarterback will miss Friday’s homecoming game against 1-3 Linoln HI-Lake Benton in Hills.Team statisticsH-BC-E: 98 rushing yards, 53 passing yards, 151 total yards, eight first downs, three penalties for 30 yards, one turnover.SWU: 222 rushing yards, 105 passing yards, 327 total yards, 13 first downs, six penalties for 49 yards, three turnovers.Individual statisticsRushing: Kerry Fink 20-51, Rozeboom 6-28.Passing: Broesder 8-17 for 53 yards.Receiving: Chris Nuffer 3-24, Rozeboom 4-24, Fink 1-5.Defense: LeBoutillier 14 tackles and two interceptions, Cody Scholten nine tackles, Jason Martens six tackles, Nuffer three tackles and one fumble recovery.