The Chillicothe Hornets hosted Cameron for Homecoming Friday night in a Midland Empire Conference showdown.
Cameron’s first drive evaporated more than 8 minutes off the clock, on a hot and humid evening, but the Hornets defense came up with a stop inside the 20. The game was still scoreless into the 2nd quarter after the Hornets forced a punt. Henry Hurtgen took the first play of the possession 37 yard to put Chillicothe ahead. Cameron answered right back with an option toss to Carter Flick for a 68 yard score. Cameron converted for two and took an 8-6 lead.
Chillicothe quickly regained the advantage on a 54 yard scamper from Henry Hurtgen. Then with under a minute to play Ezra Leppin recovered a fumble setting up a short field for the Hornets. Hurtgen hammered home his third score of the quarter with just 8 seconds left in the half and Chillicothe went to the locker room up 20-8.
The Hornets started fast in the 2nd half, Burke Beetsma found Leppin deep for 35 yards, down inside the five yard line, and Hurtgen capped off another scoring drive finding pay dirt. The Dragons fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Hurtgen hit the run lane for one more score, his fifth on the night as Chillicothe opened up a commanding 34-8 lead. Hurtgen finished with 276 yards and 5 touchdowns on 31 carries, his 3rd consecutive game over 200 yards on the ground.
Cameron did not quit, scoring a pair of touchdowns on passes from Brodi Jones to Levi Reickard but the Dragons were unable to get any closer than a 14 point margin as Chillicothe earned their first conference win 34-20. The Hornets are now 3-1 on the season, 1-1 in the MEC.