KIRKSVILLE - Turnovers set the Capital City Cavaliers behind early.
The Kirksville Tigers forced four turnovers on their way to a 28-6 win against the Cavaliers at Spainhower Field to finish the regular season.
On the Cavaliers' opening play, a holding call pushed the team off schedule. Two plays later, Capital City had a third-and-20 and was forced to throw a deep pass, which Kendrick Hartman pulled down for the Tigers at the 31 and returned to the Cavaliers' 1.
Ian Nelson forced his way into the backfield for a sack to keep the Tigers from scoring on their first play, but Isaac Danielson found Jaden Ballinger for a 7-yard score on the next down. It was the first of three touchdowns for both Danielson and Ballinger. Rileigh McLain connected for the first of her four extra points to put the Tigers ahead 7-0 with 10:13 left in the opening quarter.
"The effort was there, I thought we played pretty hard," Capital City coach Joe Collier said. "We had some communication stuff, some dropped balls. Second half, we came out and tried to fight and did a little better. When you get down against a good team, you have to claw your way out. All you can hope for is they make some mistakes, but they (Kirksville) know how to win."
The teams traded punts back and forth, ending with Kirksville starting its third drive on its own 48.
After Landen McNeil worked into the backfield for a tackle for loss, Danielson threw left to Randon Baumgartner in the flat. Baumgartner sprinted by a defender to get to the sideline, then by another to work his way into the second level, where he had nothing but green grass in front of him to score a 53-yard touchdown. McLain kicked another extra point to put the Tigers up 14-0 with 3:06 left in the first quarter.
Kirksville forced a fumble on the ensuing drive, but was unable to take advantage as the Cavaliers forced a punt.
The Tigers forced another punt, then drove to near the red zone.
The Cavaliers combined to make a fourth-down stop on their own 24 to end the Tigers' drive, but were unable to get the ball moving on offense and punted once again.
The Tigers started on their own 39, then Danielson found Ballinger on three of four plays for a combined 60 yards to lead to a score.
First Danielson threw to Ballinger on a quick slant for 30 yards, then a running back dive for a yard put the Tigers at second-and-9. Danielson then connected with Ballinger on a stop before Ballinger turned it into 16 yards, then Ballinger caught the ball at the 5 on an in route and worked his way into the end zone for a 14-yard score. McLain connected on another extra point to put Kirksville ahead 21-0 with 2:30 left in the first half.
Another Capital City fumble gave the Tigers one more chance before the half.
Kirksville moved to the Capital City 25, but back-to-back sacks from Jeremiah White and Hunter Schulte ended the drive and kept the Tigers off the board.
"They got a little belief at the end of the first half that we could play with these guys and get some rushes," Collier said of his defensive line. "I think we bottled them up pretty good, but they're so nasty and have weapons all across the field at receiver."
The Cavaliers reversed their fortune early in the second half.
After a perfect, rolling punt from Nelson, which set the Tigers at their own 7, Capital City's defense forced a third-and-long with a sack from McNeil.
On third-and-20, the Tigers heaved the ball down the right sideline, where Damon Upchurch slipped underneath it and brought it down for the Cavaliers.
Two plays later, Hayden Carroll connected with Robert Gray on a stop route on the right sideline, then Gray juked a defender out of his route before juking another downfield and working his way into the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed, cutting the Tigers' lead to 21-6 with 7:37 left in the third quarter.
"Before the game, we had the message of family," Collier said. "Our family, our teammates, our brothers, uplifting each other on the sideline. We want to build on what the guys did well tonight. We don't have to wait for something good to happen to build confidence, we can build on what our brothers tell us."
The teams went back and forth with the next six drives ending with either a punt or a turnover on downs, leaving the Cavaliers with 1:02 on the board down 21-6 at their own 27.
Two incomplete passes left the Cavaliers with a third-and-long, then a deep pass down the middle of the field ended in Ballinger's hands, and he took it to the house to extend the Tigers' lead to 28-6 with 41 seconds left after McNeil connected on another extra point.
Carroll completed four passes for 54 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. Gray had three catches for 55 yards.
The Cavaliers went with a running back by committee system in the first half, but because of injuries, gave every second-half carry to Matthew Boyer. Boyer led the team with 14 carries for 78 yards.
Danielson completed 26 passes on 39 attempts for 273 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Ballinger was his leading receiver with 11 catches for 110 yards and two receiving touchdowns, while Baumgartner had seven catches for 77 yards.
The Tigers totaled 27 carries for minus-8 yards on the ground.
Capital City (1-8) will hit the road for the first round of the Class 5 District 4 tournament on Friday.
Kirksville (6-3) will play host to its first game in the Class 4 District 5 tournament on Friday.