The Chillicothe Hornets hosted Kirksville in week two of the football season on Friday night. After falling to Marshall in week one the Hornets welcomed in the Tigers from the Northeast. In the Chillicothe-Kirksville series the last eight season the home team had won the matchup and the Hornets were gunning to continue that trend.
While Chillicothe looked much sharper than they did week one, the Hornets were unable to secure the victory falling 21-14. Chillicothe dug themselves a 14-0 hole after starting with a pair of three and outs followed by consecutive turnover on downs. Kirksville capitalized on short fields and punched in a pair of touchdowns, but a pair of takeaways kept the Hornets in the game. First Ezra Leppin intercepted a deep Kirksville pass attempt with help from pressure in the backfield from Tyler Lehman, then AJ Schreiner recovered a fumble on a botched handoff. The latter turnover was converted into points with a Landon Bailey touchdown run cutting the deficit to 14-7 at half.
After the break it was the Hornets defense that forced the Tigers into consecutive three and out punts. Chillicothe continued the momentum early into the 4th quarter when the Hornets were facing a 4th and 19 from the Kirksville 37 yard line. Bailey was forced to escape pressure, scrambling back behind midfield before stepping up to deliver a strike deep down the sidelines to a wide open Oliver Perry for an incredible score to tie the game. At 14 apiece each defense came up with a massive sack on 4th down to preserve the tie. Then with under two minutes to play Kirksville relied on their power run game to move the ball down field and punched a 3rd and goal into the endzone with running back Logan Martin for his 2nd score of the day.
Kirksville went ahead 21-14 with 1:48 remaining but the Hornets showed fight, moving the ball into Kirksville territory. With the Hornets down to their final play on a 4th down, Kirksville forced Bailey into an incomplete pass to cling to the 21-14 victory.
Chillicothe put on a valiant performance, including winning the turnover battle after that was a key component in their week one loss, however the Hornets fall to 0-2 on the season. Chillicothe is back at home next Friday night in their first MEC game hosting Maryville.