(Photos by Lou Postage)
The Chillicothe Cavaliers built a 20-0 halftime lead over Watkins Memorial but Coach Ron Hinton felt his Cavs didn’t put the Warriors away, holding on for a 27-6 win.
The Warriors did battle the Cavs even in the second half and appeared ready to make a charge several times.
Total offense was dead even at 249 total yards each. WM ran 71 plays to Chillicothe’s 45. The total play domination was primarily on more power running in the second half for WM.
So how do the Cavs win by three scores? The Cavs can make big plays at anytime.
Christian Benson returned the opening kickoff (a pooch kick) 43 yards. Next play J’Quan Harris rolls around the end for a 28 yard score and it is 7-0 Cavs 20 seconds into the game.
The Cavs were stymied by penalties on some big offensive plays and the offense slowed. With 7 minutes to go in the half, and still just 7-0, Nick Erslan recovers a Warrior fumble at the WM 8. Adrian Beverly hits Zach Coats for an 8 yard TD pass to make it 13-0.
A quick defensive stop, short punt, and another jet sweep for Harris for a 31 yard score. In two and a half minutes the game goes to 20-0 Cavaliers headed to halftime.
Watkins came out in the second half with a much different attitude and ran a big majority of the plays. The Warriors drove 63 yards to get on the board with a Connor Brandon pass for 3 yards to Christian Harvey and it was 20-6 late in the third period.
The Cavs lose yardage on their first two plays and with WM poised to continue their comeback, big play Coats did it again. On third and 22, a perfectly thrown bomb down the right sideline from Adrian Beverly hits Coats in stride for 76 yards and a 27-6 Cavs lead at the end of three quarters.
Coats had two big touchdown receptions, J’Quan had two touchdown runs and led the Cavs with 90 yards rushing.
First year starter Adrian Beverly continues to improve hitting 9-14 passing for 133 yards and two touchdowns.Maybe one of the biggest stats was zero turnovers for Chillicothe.
Coach Ron Hinton was very happy to be 3-0, but still feels his Cavs are just a play or two each game from being an even better football team.
The Cavs will need to be on their “A” game next week as they travel to (3-0) state powerhouse Bishop Hartley. The Cavs actually travel four weeks in a row before returning home in Mid October.
Listen to the play-by-play podcast (found below) as heard with Greg Bigam and Dana Cousins on News Radio WBEX.....