The Kirksville Tigers used a dominant second half and good special teams to beat Moberly Friday on the road 28-7. The first half was another defensive struggle that saw KHS battle poor field position while Moberly enjoyed good field position, but the Tiger defense held the Spartans scoreless and benefited from numerous dropped Spartan passes, one of which would likely have been a wide open game tying touchdown play. The Tigers got on the board first after a blocked Moberly punt gave the Tigers great field position at the Spartan 40 yard line. An efficient drive was capped off by Jace Kent‘s first of three touchdowns, a four yard run that gave KHS a 7-0 lead with 2:15 left in the second quarter. A late interception gave Moberly a chance to score before halftime but the Tiger defense kept the Spartans out of the end zone as time ran out and KHS led at the break 7-0. The Tigers nearly fumbled away the opening kick of the third quarter but recovered at their own 22. A nice, time consuming drive ended with an 11 yard run by Kent to make it 14-0 with 6:59 left in the third. Kirksville forced a Moberly punt on the Spartan’s next possesion which was blocked again giving the Tigers first and goal at the six. Kent scored his third TD of the night on a six yard pass to make it 21-0 with 4:24 to play in the third. Moberly finally found the end zone midway through the fourth to make it 21-7, but Kirksville strung together first downs to drain the clock before Ryder Lyons scored on a one yard run on fourth and goal with :26 seconds left to make it 28-7 and that would be the final. Kicker Beckett Lyons was a perfect 4 for 4 on PAT’s and not missed an extra point this season. Kent finished with 156 yards on 28 carries, Blake Nesbitt collected ten tackles and one of the punt blocks. Ryder Lyons threw for 102 yards on 10 of 16 passing with two interceptions. Kirksville climbs to 4-0 on the year, 1-0 in the NCMC and will make the sojourn to Marshall next Friday. Marshall lost to Mexico 49-13.