Chillicothe (1-1/2-5) handles Warren (0-2/2-5)

There’s just something about hearing the victory bell ring on Homecoming.

Chillicothe (1-1/2-5) earned a 38-7 win over the Warren Warriors (0-2/2-5) Friday night in what was a much needed shot in the arm.

For Coach Ron Hinton, his team hit many of its goals. “We had 300 yards rushing… when we control the ball we’re gonna win.”

The Cavs had big nights from both quarterback Ryan Mathis, who ran 78 yards for a score and tossed two more touchdown passes and tail back Markel Cain had 144 yards and a TD on 24 lugs.  As a team, Chillicothe’s ground game tallied 286 yards on 41 carries.

Both teams punted on their first possessions, but it was Chillicothe who cracked the goal line first. Julius Lee had the door close to his right and spun left angling to the corner of the north end zone of Herrnstein Field on a 5 yard run to go ahead 7-0 after the Jacob Weber PAT.

Warren punted to the Cavs’ 16 and on third down, Mathis found a opening on the right side and won a 78 yard foot race to put Chillicothe ahead 14-0.

The Warriors answered with a 77 yard scoring drive which took 7:02 off the clock. Dylan Leffingwell found David Ryan in the back of the end zone to cut the deficit to 14-7.

Warren stopped the Cavs on downs at their own 25, but promptly gave the Cavs the ball on a fumble. It was the first of three turnovers which led to a Chillicothe score. Mathis hit Trevon Harris on a 19 yard pass for a 21-7 lead at halftime.

The Cavs opened the second half with a grinding 80 yard 11 play drive capped by a Weber 30 yard field goal to go ahead 24-7.

Following a defensive stop, the Cavs marched 67 yards on 6 plays complimented by a 34 yard touchdown run by Cain for a 31-7 lead.

Michael Beard picked off a Leffingwell pass and returned it 45 yards to the Warren 16. Three plays later, Mathis hit Adam Bixler on a 14 yard pass… ring the bell.

The Chillicothe defense did a more than admirable job in keeping the Warren offense attack in check. The Warriors managed just 114 yards on the ground and 107 through the air.

The win puts Chillicothe in a three way tie for second place with Logan and Portsmouth, a game back of Gallia and Jackson and a game ahead of Warren.

The Cavs will head to Logan (1-1/1-6) next Friday.

Parisa Bennett is the 2012 Homecoming Queen and Robbie Vest the 2012 Homecoming King.

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