Things looked good early for the Chillicothe wrestling Hornets as they made their first home appearance of the 2008-09 season last night. However, when the snowball started rolling back downhill, it just kept going until it was too late for the less-experienced members of the Hornets to stop it.
 

The Chillicothe Lady Hornets welcomed the Marshall Lady Owls to town on Saturday evening, Chillicothe was looking for their second win of the season and Marshall was looking to get its first. The Lady Hornets sent their guests on their way still winless, but not before making things unnecessarily interesting.
After by double digits much of the second half, Chillicothe had to score five of the game’s last six points to get away with a
42-39 triumph.

SMITHVILLE — Chillicothe senior Stephen Quinn fell just short of the 160-pound title and senior heavyweight Jacob Hightower also went 4-1 to lead a very-truncated Chillicothe High School Hornets team in Saturday’s Smithville Invitational wrestlng tournament.
Quinn was beaten in a rematch with Jake Rhoad of Maysville in the title bout after winning his first four bouts, while Hightower won by decision twice, by fall once, and by forfeit once to secure second place in the 285-pound class.
 

Giving a quick opening argument of Josh Rockhold's layup – his first basket of a career night – and then a roof-raising alley-oop play between ace passer Colin Parker and 5'10" finisher Bryce Young, the Chillicothe Hornets allowed the visiting Excelsior Springs Tigers a brief chance to state their case Friday night, then delivered an early, convincing summation.
Harrassing the Tigers on the defensive end with their buzzing and stinging them on the offensive end with fast-break and driving layups, the Hornets decisively got a 72-52 verdict on their home floor.
 

FLORENCE, Ala. — Former Chillicothe High School football standout Josh Gannan will wrap up an very successful and accomplished college gridiron career tomorrow when he and his Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats teammates square off with Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA Division II national championship game.
 

MARSHALL — Chillicothe High School’s 2008-09 wrestling Hornets got in the “win” column Wednesday.
Edge Marshall after losing to Mexico
MARSHALL — Chillicothe High School’s 2008-09 wrestling Hornets got in the “win” column Wednesday.
After six unsuccessful tries, the Hornets earned their first dual-match victory of the just-begun season last night when they shaded the Marshall Owls 39-37 in non-conference action.
Already having tied once in their first five matches, CHS barely missed getting win No. 1 just prior to beating Marshall. Mexico held off the Hornets 34-33 as part of the three-team double-dual.
In the victory over the Owls, Chillicothe overcame a 25-12 Marshall held midway through the 14-bout match.
Jon Black’s win by fall in 1:37 at 152 pounds following a forfeit win for CHS at 145 jump-started the CHS rally, bringing them within 25-24.
After Marshall, which had beaten Chillicothe last Saturday at the Park Hill tournament, won the next bout, a 7-0 Cory Lowe decision sandwiched between two Owls forfeits gave CHS an insurmountable 39-31 lead.
The Hornets fell behind Mexico 34-6 before winning the last six bouts, only to fall one point short.

Although the information was received too late for normal-length coverage in today’s edition, five Chillicothe High School football Hornets players have been chosen to positions on the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association’s 2008 All-State team for Class 3, the association has belatedly announced.
 

The many people attending last night’s Chillicothe High School football postseason awards banquet for 2008 can identify a bit better today with marathon runners who help refresh themselves during their races with a quick sip of cold water before splashing the rest on their faces.
Perhaps befitting a spectacular season which lasted as long as any in CHS history (14 games), the event honoring the Hornets went on long into the evening, eventually concluding at around 10:15 p.m., some four-plus hours after the meal portion began.
 

MARSHALL — Chillicothe traveled to Marshall Monday night to take on the Owls.  It was the Hornets third game in five days and they lost a hard fought battle to Marshall, 64-56.
  

Probably about the only thing keeping Chillicothe High School basketball Lady Hornets head coach Karen Jackson from tearing out her hair last night was that, much as she has hoped and worked to avoid them, she has known her greatly-inexperienced team was bound to have games like last night, especially early in this 2008-09 season.
 

MENDON — The Northwestern Tournament came to a head Saturday night in Mendon in a pair of exciting championship contests.
When the dust settle, Meadville’s No. 2-seeded Eagles had topped No. 1 seed Hale 78-69 and Linn County’s second-seeded girls had edged the defending champion and top-seeded Meadville Lady Eagles in a low-scoring clash, 32-30.
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LUDLOW —     Working with a pretty young squad, the Ludlow: Southwest Wildcats may find victories hard to come by this season, especially early on, but they already have assured that there won’t be any danger of a winless season.
 

Individually, more than a few Chillicothe High School wrestling Hornets had good opening outings for the 2008-09 season Saturday. Team-wise, it was a different story.
 

For those Chillicothe Hornets fans driving to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. state playoffs football game at Pleasant Hill, here are driving directions as listed on MapQuest.com. The school/field are located in the south-central part of town.
 From Chillicothe, take U.S. Highway 36 west to Cameron. Turn south onto I-35  and travel 41.1 miles; n Merge onto I-435 South just past Liberty, via Exit 12A. Travel 13.7 miles on I-435 South; Merge left onto Missouri Highway 350 E via Exit 66 (63rd St./ Raytown/ Lee's Summit exit). Travel 8.3 miles on Missouri 350 East; n Merge onto U. S. Highway 50 East. Travel 8.8 miles; n Take the Highway 7 exit toward Blue Springs/Pleasant Hill and turn right onto Highway 7;  Travel 7.3 miles on Highway 7 to East Myrtle St.; Turn left onto East Myrtle St. for 0.3 mile to the middle school (old high school) (on your left).
The estimated time for traveling this route is listed as 1 hour, 59 minutes. The distance is 118.29 miles.
Another option, involving fewer highway changes, would be: Travel south to Interstate 70 by the route of your choice; n Take I-70 west to the Highway 7 exit at Blue Springs, nearing Kansas City; n Take Highway 7 south to Pleasant Hill to East Myrtle St. Turn left the 0.3 mile to the school.

MACON — The 2008-09 Chillicothe High School basketball Lady Hornets have more height and seemingly more-consistent half-court scoring potential than any of the past several editions of Lady Hornets. However, after shooting quite well in their opener by getting lots of set offense opportunities against a foe which didn’t offer a lot of backcourt pressure, the CHS girls had reality come up and smack them in the face the second time Friday.