The Chillicothe Hornets were at Maryville Friday night in the first MEC matchup of the season. On a beautiful night for football, both teams entered with 2-0 records looking to pick up a conference win.
Initially, both sides moved the football on their opening drive before stalling out in the red zone and turning the ball over on downs. The Hornets forced another stop defensively early in the 2nd quarter, but on the first play of the drive on offense, a backwards pass resulting in a lateral was scooped up by Spoofhounds defender Jet Ingram and returned to the two yard line. Maryville took advantage of the short field to punch in the first score on a one yard run from Luke Allen.
Trailing 7-0, Chillicothe motored the ball down the field again only to come up short on a 4th down inside the 15 yard line for another Maryville defensive stand with about to minutes to play in the half. The Spoofhounds quickly took the ball down the field and quarterback Jackson Dredge found Allen escaping out of the backfield for a 15 yard touchdown strike with 10 seconds to play before the break, making it 14-0 Maryville at the half.
To begin the 3rd quarter Chillicothe once again entered into Maryville territory, then quarterback Burke Beetsma was under pressure and tried to get rid of the football. Beetsma fumbled and Will McCollough returned it 55 yards for a defensive score. Chillicothe’s next drive also resulted in a turnover but the Hornets defense delivered a big stop setting up the Hornets best play of the night.
Cooper Robinson took a pitch to the right 69 yards to the house breaking numerous tackles along the way. After the extra point Chillicothe trimmed the deficit to 21-7. Maryville responded on the ensuing possession, Dredge hit a wide open Jack Luke for a 24 yard touchdown and the score was 28-7 entering the 4th quarter.
The Spoofhounds added one more score late in the game when Dredge hit Carson Hageman for an 18 yard touchdown on a 4th down for his 3rd touchdown pass of the game. Maryville didn’t allow any 4th quarter points and posted a 35-7 victory.
The Hornets outgained Maryville in yardage behind another 200 yard game on the ground from Henry Hurtgen, but the four turnovers proved too much for Chillicothe to overcome as Maryville moves to 3-0 on the season and Chillicothe drops to 2-1, 0-1 in the Midland Empire Conference. The Hornets will host Cameron on Friday night for homecoming.