The Chillicothe Hornets hosted the Cameron Dragons for their Homecoming football game Friday night. The packed house at Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium was treated to an exceptional game.
On the opening drive, quarterback Cooper Robinson found Oliver Perry for a 54 yard gain that took the ball inside the 5 yard line, but the Dragons defense came up with a goal line stand, forcing a turnover on downs. Chillicothe’s defense countered with a 4th down stop of their own. Cameron then forced a strip sack, as Gage Jones jarred the ball loose from Robinson and the Dragons recovered.
The first quarter belonged to the defenses as the game was still scoreless, but Cameron found the end-zone as freshman quarterback Chase Bell started the scoring in the 2nd from 1 yard out. On the ensuing Hornets possession the ball was snapped over the head of Robinson and as he tried to avoid the safety, lost the ball which was recovered by Cameron for a touchdown. The Dragons led 12-0 but the Hornets were ready to overcome adversity. Drake Swift ripped off a 37 yard run and Silas Midgyett capped off the drive with a 10 yard TD. After the Hornets defense forced a punt, on the first play of the drive Logan Murrell housed an 80 yard run and the Hornets converted the 2 point try to take a 14-12 advantage into the locker room.
To start the 2nd half, Cameron’s Talon Eddins broke free for a long run, after 50 yards and inside the Chillicothe 30, he was chased down by Murrell who punched the ball out, it was recovered by the Hornets and Chillicothe quickly converted the turnover into points. Robinson found Perry on another deep pass, and this time Perry took it all the way into the end-zone from 45 yards out. Chillicothe kept the momentum going by recovering another fumble and Robinson threw his 2nd TD pass of the quarter, a 12 yard strike to Landon Bailey. After the 2 point conversion Chillicothe was ahead 28-12 as the game went to the 4th quarter.
Cameron went on an extended drive and scored with Eddins to cut into the deficit. Then on the kickoff the ball bounced in front of the Hornets deep returners bounced back towards the Cameron coverage team and the Dragons fell on it to give them an extra possession. The Hornets held on to a one score lead at 28-20 but the defense came up with another massive stand, recovering a fumble on 4th down. Chillicothe punted and the Dragons scored with under 5 minutes out as Hudson Lodder carried it across the goal line, but the Hornets got the stop on the 2 point try to keep a 2 point lead. Cameron got the ball back after a punt with under 2 minutes to go, and moved it across midfield but the Hornets defense had one more play in them. Murrell intercepted Bell’s pass on 4th down with two seconds remaining to ice the game for the Hornets.
Chillicothe’s 28-26 victory over Cameron improves the team to 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in the MEC. The Hornets will travel to conference foe St. Pius next Friday.
The CHS Homecoming Court was celebrated after the game where Anna Pfaff and Silas Midgyett were named homecoming king and queen.
