The Washington Court House Blue Lions stunned the Chillicothe Cavaliers Friday night with 20-7 victory on the Cavs home turf. In a game that most thought would be a high scoring game with the last team to have the ball would win, ended up being a defensive battle with a team that's struggled on defense this year coming out on top.
Chillicothe turned the ball over on two of their first three possessions and punted twice before they could finally find the end zone in the first half, which they did scoring first at 9:08 mark of the second quarter on a 26 yard throw and catch from Adrian Beverly to Courtland Duncan capping off a 3 play 26 yard drive. The Blue Lions normally high powered offense was also slow to start as they turned the ball over on downs and punted twice before finally finding the end zone. They scored on their possession immediately following the Cavs score with a Dillon Steward one yard run finishing off a 15 play 80 yard drive that took 5:01 off the clock, the pat was no good and they trailed 7-6. That was the only scoring done in the first half, and the only points the Cavaliers could put on the board.
Chillicothe only had 3 possessions in the second half as the Blue Lions controlled the ball and the clock. Washington scored with :55 seconds left in the third quarter on a Gio Thomas to Omar Porter 32 yard pass on a drive that took 4:30 off the clock going 90 yards in 15 plays. The Blue Lions recovered the ensuing on side kick and scored again with 11:39 left in the game on a Gio Thomas 9 yard drive that took 1:14 off the clock. The PAT was no good and Washington took a 20-7 lead that would eventually lead to victory.
The Blue Lions used the ground game to keep the clock running in the fourth quarter utilizing Junior RB Jamie McCane and QB Gio Thomas each of which went over the 100 yard mark. McCane had 22 rushes for 117 yards while Thomas had 23 rushes for 106 yards and a score. The Blue Lions 6-3 (2-2) finished with 372 total yards, 262 in the second half, 231 of which came on the ground. They had 17 first downs and were penalized six times for 50 yards, only one penalty occurred in the second half.
Chillicothe finished the night with 323 total yards led by Tyce Netter's 114 yards on 13 carries. McKellan Lee had 9 carries for 95 yards and J.J. Harris was held to just 26 yards on 10 carries. The Cavs had 13 first downs, were penalized four times for thirty yards and committed 5 turnovers.
Chillicothe (3-1/7-2) will wrap up the regular season next Friday night against the Jackson Ironmen. The two teams along with Hillsboro are tied for the FAC lead at (3-1).
Listen to the game from News Radio WBEX on our podcast link below...