The Taylorville Tornadoes opened strong Friday night but couldn’t keep pace after halftime, falling to the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs 49–27 in an Apollo Conference road matchup.

Taylorville struck first as quarterback Isaac Repscher led an early drive capped by a 42-yard touchdown run from Owen Mateer. The extra point missed, but the Tornadoes led 6–0. Mahomet answered quickly with a 29-yard wildcat run from Wade Manuel, then grabbed the lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Cade Ashby to make it 14–6.

The Tornadoes battled back when Malique Pearse hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass, and a two-point conversion evened the game at 14–14. Taylorville nearly took the lead before halftime, but a penalty wiped out a would-be touchdown, sending the teams to the locker room tied.

The Bulldogs seized control after the break. Cade Ashby and Cody Moen combined for two rushing scores, including one off a Taylorville fumble, sparking a 21-point third quarter that pushed Mahomet ahead 35–14. Quarterback Ryan Pruitt added another touchdown to extend the margin to 42–14.

Taylorville kept fighting, with Repscher connecting on a 60-yard strike to Blake Ladage and Maddex Havera adding a late score, but Ashby’s third touchdown sealed the Bulldogs’ 49–27 victory.

Blake Ladage was named the Nicole Patrick Country Financial Agent Player of the game, for a successful fake punt that helped the Tornadoes score first along with that 60 yard touchdown reception. 

Mahomet-Seymour improves to 2–2 overall and 1–0 in conference play. Taylorville drops to 1–3 and 0–1 and will travel to Effingham next week to face the 3–1 Flaming Hearts, who defeated Charleston on Friday.