Miami Trace controls ground game, wins over Chillicothe
By: Jeremy Spears
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WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio (WOUB) – The 3-2 Chillicothe Cavaliers went on the road against the 5-0 Miami Trace Panthers for the first game in FAC play, with a battle between the conference’s top-two rushers. The Panthers won 35-21.
Chillicothe won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. After both teams’ first possessions resulted in 0-0, the Cavaliers went to work. Smash mouth football was the name of the game between these two.
Chillicothe RB Cartae Ligon opened the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-5. With the missed extra point, it was 6-0 in the first quarter.
Miami Trace couldn’t find anything going on in the first 15 minutes of the game. QB Baron Phipps threw an interception to give the Cavaliers good field position. On the first play in the second quarter, QB Tay Harris found WR Jeremy Cain for the 7-yard score. Chillicothe went up 14-0.
The next possession, the Panthers found their way into the end zone with a triple option from Phipps. A few mistakes by the Cavaliers led to the Panthers getting the ball back. RB Julian Baker punched it in from 1-yard to tie this game up 14-14 at halftime.
Coming out of halftime, the Panthers went for it on fourth down and came up incomplete. Chillicothe’s next drive stalled out, leaving them forced to punt.
Baron Phipps got his second rushing touchdown of the game from six yards out. With 2:31 left in the third quarter the score was 20-14 Panthers. Chillicothe answered quickly as Ligon made a few cuts from 40 yards out to tie the game at 20. The PAT gave the Cavaliers the 1-point lead.
A bootleg pass to WR Cooper Enochs put Miami Trace down at the 2-yard line. Baker punched it in and converted the 2-point conversion to make it 28-21.
The Panthers controlled the ground game in the second half having two early rushing touchdowns. Senior Tackle Adam Guthrie led the charge for Miami Trace. Miami Trace took this game 35-21 to push them to 6-0. The Panthers will look to stay undefeated on the road at Hillsboro next Friday.
Chillicothe falls to 3-3 and will look to bounce back against Washington Court House next week.