Huntington holds off Hurricane
By Trace Johnson
The Huntington Highlanders held off the Hurricane Redskins 24-13 Friday night to rebound from a disappointing loss to Cabell Midland the week before.
Huntington (6-2) started the game up 14-0, but Hurricane (4-3) fought back to make it a 17-13 game late in the fourth quarter before a final Highlanders touchdown put the game away.
After each team turned the ball over on its first offensive possession, the Highlanders struck first when Jadon Hayes found the end zone from 31 yards out to put Huntington in front 7-0.
Following a defensive stand, the Highlanders struck again offensively when Luke Zban connected with Seth Finnegan for a 50-yard touchdown to extend Huntington’s lead to 14-0 with 4:50 remaining in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, the Highlanders missed a 51-yard field goal attempt and Hurricane’s offense took advantage when backup quarterback Austin Womack connected with Austin Kerns for a spectacular 12-yard touchdown to cut the Huntington lead down to 14-7 with 5:14 remaining in the second quarter.
After a couple changes of possession, the Highlanders took a 14-7 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. The third quarter was quiet until Huntington’s Cason Kessinger connected on a 41-yard field goal to extend the Highlanders’ lead to 17-7 with 25.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
But just seconds into the fourth quarter, the Redskins’ offense came up huge when Dylan Plumley connected with Dakota Williams for a 53-yard touchdown strike to cut Huntington’s lead down to 17-13 with 11:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hurricane’s defense forced a Huntington punt and was set to get the ball back offensively with under two minutes remaining in the game down by four.
But a fumble on that punt return was fumbled and the Highlanders’ Andrew Spears returned the fumble 13 yards for a Huntington touchdown to put the game away and extend the lead to 24-13 with just 1:30 remaining in the game.
The Redskins were unable to get back in the game and Huntington walked away with a 24-13 win. With the win, the Highlanders responded after a 27-20 defeat at Cabell Midland on Oct. 7.
With the loss for Hurricane, the Redskins have now dropped three straight games after beginning the season 4-0 and return home for two straight games the next two weeks.
Huntington returns to action on Oct. 21 at South Charleston and Hurricane returns to action on Oct. 21 at home against Woodrow Wilson.
