By Dan Ramey (follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @DanRameyRadio)
The inaugural Frontier Athletic Conference battle for Chillicothe and Hillsboro went to the Cavaliers 42-20 Friday night at The Obadiah Harris Athletic Complex.
Connor Mathis got the Cavs on the board first with a 2 yard run in the first period at 7-0.
Hillsboro had turnovers on back-to-back possessions in the 2nd quarter. The second was an interception by J’Qwan Harris. The Cavs’ Branden Maughmer followed with a 14 yard run to finish a 59 yard drive for the 14-0 halftime lead.
Chillicothe scored a third TD before the half on a 60 yard run by Harris, but a holding penalty brought it back.
“It was a solid win” said Cavs Coach Ron Hinton after his team built a 42-6 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
“We do so many good things offensively, we have a lot of weapons” said Hinton. “I didn’t think we threw the ball particularly well… our defense stepped up tonight, most of their yards came in the fourth quarter.”
The Cavs scored 21 points in the 3rd period to put the game out of reach. On a couple of series, facing 4th down and short yardage, Hillsboro was caught off sides to continue the Cavalier series.
“There’s no doubt, turnovers are a big part of the game” said Indians’ Coach Jack O’Rourke. “And when you play at team like Chillicothe you turn the ball over twice, you dig some holes. We didn’t play the smartest football tonight”
Maughmer ran 54 yards on the first play of scrimmage to start the second half for a 21-0 lead just 12 seconds in.
Mason Swayne hit Britton Haines on a 46 yard strike to give Hillsboro its first score, but the Cavs came right back with another Maughmer run to go ahead 28-6 just 2:03 into the 3rd quarter.
JJ Harris and McKellan Lee added TD runs for Chillicothe to go ahead 42-6.
Hillsboro’s three back attack took a blow when Deon Burns suffered an ankle injury in the 3rd Quarter.
“He’s a big part of our football team and that’s very concerning to me that he’s hurt that ankle again” said O’Rourke. “We may have to do without him for a while.”
Mason Lewis scored on runs of 9 and 1 yards in the final 5 minutes for the 42-20 final.
Maughmer rushed for 211 yards on 21 carries with 3 TDs, leaving the senior QB 58 yards shy of 1,000 on the season.
Chillicothe outgained Hillsboro 447-239 yards.
The Cavaliers (4-2/1-0) host McClain (0-6/0-1) Friday October 6th for the last of six consecutive home games at The O.
Hillsboro (4-2/0-1) will host Washington (3-3/01) Friday.
Elsewhere in the FAC:
Jackson (5-1/1-0) bounced back from its loss to Wheelersburg last week to a 31-20 win at Washington CH and Miami Trace (1-5/1-0) blanked McClain (0-6/0-1) 46-0 for the Panthers’ first win of the season.
Homecoming Note: Anastasia Wright was crowned Queen and A.J. Corbin crowned King at the half.