Like last week, late arrivals to Herrnstein Field found the home team with an early lead before the spectators could take a seat.

Winning the coin toss, Big Walnut deferred to the second half. 15 seconds into the game, Chillicothe took a 7-0 lead on an 87 yard kickoff return by Jalen Jones.

It was the first of four special team scores between the two teams.

Then the Cavaliers saw Big Walnut score the next 38 points over the first three quarters.

Eagles kicker Cory Gibson put a 43 yard field goal in the books at 8:43 in the first period. Big Walnut forced the Cavs to punt. The snap to punter Noah Valentine went over his head and into the end zone and was recovered for an Eagles touchdown.

Big Walnut's Seth Myers tacked on an 89 yard punt return for another TD to put his team ahead 17-7 to close out the quarter.

Chillicothe stalled a drive inside the Birds' 30 when a  Valentine field goal missed the left upright.

Quarterback Tyler Beam ran 80 yards on the next play to put Big Walnut ahead 24-7.

Alex Clark punched in a final first half td just before halftime.

Following a 3rd quarter 5 yard touchdown run by Lucas Garcia, the Cavs scored back-to-back td's of their own in the 4th quarter. Ryan Mathis hit Zach Johnson for a score from 44 yards out and Markel Cain charged ahead 35 yards to round out the scoring.

After being out gained by their opponent last week, Big Walnut amassed 305 yards total offense to Chillicothe's 182.

Timmy Beard was the leading Cavs rusher for 82 yards on 17 carries. 

Chillicothe had some bright spots on the evening, but as Coach Ron Hinton talked in his review of the Week 1, the Cavs struggled to find consistency. Chillicothe used Luke Barnes and Mathis to quarterback their offensive scheme.

The Cavs head to Ironton next Friday. The Tigers (2-0) were 21-14 winners over Russell, Kentucky.

Photos by Dana Cousins/wbex.com 

NOTES: School officials delayed the start of the game 30 minutes due to the extreme heat... Caleb Conley had the Monroe's Collision Big Collision of the Game... Big Walnut now leads their series with Chillicothe 5-1... Next Friday's trip to Ironton will be the first of four straight road games, followed by Athens, Portsmouth and Hillsboro... Chillicothe hasn't faced Hillsboro on the gridiron since 1938.