Football: Huron’s comeback vs. Saline comes up short (see WLAA photo gallery)

Saline scored three touchdowns in the final 4:31 of the first half and then held off a strong Huron comeback in the second half for a 35-24 win on a perfect Thursday evening in an SEC Red Division opener for both schools.

In what was expected to be a very competitive game, turned out to be exactly that but not until the host River Rats hit their stride. They started out strong but the Hornets scored three times in the final minutes of the second quarter to turn a three-point deficit into a 28-10 halftime lead.

Huron scored on its opening drive of the third quarter and then scored early in the fourth quarter to pull within 28-24 with over 10 minutes to play in the game. The Hornets did what good teams do – they responded, even if they did it with a twist.

The River Rats got the ball back with more than 5 minutes left in the game and down just four points. But Saline turned a sack into a fumble into a touchdown and a two-possession lead that was finally too much for the hosts.

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Saline, ranked fifth in the MHSFCA Division 1 poll, improved to 2-0 on the season. Huron falls to 0-2 after losing 32-2 to Lapeer in the Big House. The River Rats travel cross town next week to face Pioneer at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9.

Huron’s Adam Samaha booted the River Rats into an early lead with a 42-yard field goal to make it 3-0 with 3:46 left in the first quarter. The field goal followed a strong opening drive by the River Rats.

But the Hornets, led by quarterback CJ Carr, came right back to take a 7-3 lead on a 7-yard QB keeper up the middle with 1:57 left in the opening quarter.

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The River Rats answered Saline’s answer. Another excellent drive put the River Rats inside the red zone. An 8-yard run by Donel Green (and Samaha extra point) gave the home team a 10-7 lead with 6:08 left in the second quarter. Green had a huge game for the River Rats as the senior ran hard all night long until suffering an injury in the second half.

The scoring play was a simple sweep to the left with strong blocking up front as Green went into the end zone standing up.

The Hornets then took control of the game, scoring their first of three second quarter touchdowns on a 2-yard run with 4:31 left in the half to take a 14-10 lead.

The River Rats, facing a fourth and three, decided to go for it despite being on their own 38-yard line. The play came up short and Saline took over and on the first play after stopping Huron, Carr tossed a 38-yard TD pass to Garrett Baldwin to make it 21-10 with 2:41 left in the half.

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Following an interception, the Saline offense returned to the field for one more chance in the first half. And despite some big defensive plays by Huron inside the red zone, Saline finally scored with just 15 seconds left in the first half on a 3-yard TD pass from Carr to Tate Bezeau. The score gave the visitors a 28-10 lead at halftime.

The River Rats took their opening drive of the second half right down the field and scored on a 7-yard TD pass from Andrew Harding to Kameron Flowers to cut the lead to 28-17 with 7:34 left in the third quarter. And with 10:41 left in the game, Harding threw a 25-yard TD pass to Flowers to bring Huron to within 28-24.

But the Hornets added the defensive fourth-quarter TD and the River Rats were out of comebacks.