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The North Middle School Gators beat the Coffee County Raiders 30-24 at home Tuesday for their first win of the season.

The Gators opened up a big lead early in the contest and held off a late rally from the Raiders to break into the win column for the year.

The Raiders drove deep into North’s territory in the first quarter, but the Gators’ defense turned them away and forced a turnover on downs six yards away from the end zone.

The Gators then drove all the way down the field with Colson Kelley finishing the possession with a touchdown run. A successful two-point conversion gave them an 8-0 lead with 6:37 left in the first half.

The Gators got the ball back quickly after Logan Polkinghorn intercepted a pass, and Easton Brandon broke off a 56-yard touchdown run on the next play from scrimmage.

Polkinghorn scored on the ensuing two-point conversion to bring the lead up to 16-0 with 5:47 remaining in the half.

The Gators went for an onside kick and recovered it to retain possession, and Polkinghorn scored a rushing touchdown on the following drive to make it a 22-0 game with three minutes to go in the second quarter.

The Raiders were able to get on the board before halftime as they drove down and kicked a short field goal as the first half came to a close.

The Gators led 22-3 at halftime.

The Raiders maintained their momentum to start the second half as they scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the third quarter to put the score at 22-10 with five minutes remaining in the period.

After the teams traded the ball back and forth a few times, the Raiders scored another touchdown with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter to cut North’s lead down to 22-17 late.

The Gators were able to respond on their next drive as Brandon scored on a 25-yard run for his second touchdown of the day with 3:30 to go, and Kelley added a two-point conversion to make it a 30-17 game.

The Raiders put together one more scoring drive as a touchdown with 42 seconds remaining made it a one-score game once again.

However, the Gators recovered the ensuing onside kick and were able to kill the rest of the clock to seal the win by six.

With the win, the Gators improved to 1-3 on the season.

They will next play Tuesday at E.O. Coffman Middle School. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.