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The Huntland Middle School Hornets beat the Highland Rim Hornets 56-38 at home Tuesday for their first win of the season.

The teams traded touchdowns throughout a majority of the game with Huntland pulling away in the fourth quarter for a decisive victory.

Huntland Middle head football coach Mike Jernigan said that it was a good win for his team with halftime adjustments and improvements playing a key role.

“Our kids fought hard. We overcame some obstacles in the first half where we had a few breakdowns, and we made a few corrections,” he said. “We challenged our kids at the half, and they really responded well in the second half.”

Huntland forced Highland Rim to punt on the opening possession of the game with the ensuing drive ending in a touchdown run by Bryant Mooney. Mooney also scored on a two-point conversion immediately afterward to give Huntland an 8-0 lead with 6:35 remaining in the first quarter.

Highland Rim answered back relatively quickly with a touchdown and a two-point conversion on the visiting team’s next drive tying the score at 8-8 midway through the opening period.

The Huntland Hornets then went on a 65-yard drive which ended in a touchdown run by Coby Martin on the first play of the second quarter. Mooney scored on the ensuing two-point conversion to bring the early lead back up to eight points.

However, Highland Rim scored again a few plays later on a long touchdown to tie the score at 16-16 early in the second quarter.

The Huntland Hornets took more than five minutes off the clock on their next drive before Mooney scored his second touchdown of the day and notched his third two-point conversion to put the Hornets back in front by a 24-16 margin with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Huntland’s defense forced a punt on the next drive for Highland Rim, but a Huntland fumble shortly after set up a game-tying touchdown by Highland Rim with 90 seconds to go in the half.

Huntland turned the ball over again with an interception on the team’s next drive, and Highland Rim capitalized once again with a touchdown run a few plays later to put Huntland behind for the first time in the contest by a score of 30-24.

The Huntland Hornets made a last-minute attempt to score one more time, but they were stopped at Highland Rim’s 26-yard line to end the half.

They trailed 30-24 at halftime.

The Huntland Hornets started the second half with a 69-yard drive which ended in another touchdown run by Mooney, and Mooney added a two-point conversion once again to give the Hornets a narrow 32-30 lead with 3:39 left in  the third quarter.

Huntland’s defense forced Highland Rim to turn the ball over on downs at midfield, and Adon Bass broke off a long touchdown run a few plays later to give Huntland more breathing room on the scoreboard.

Mooney continued his string of successful two-point conversions to make it a 40-30 game with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Highland Rim Hornets remained competitive in the game, however, as they scored their first and ultimately only touchdown of the second half on the first play of the fourth quarter to put the score at 40-38.

The Huntland Hornets took their time on their next possession as the 59-yard drive ended in another touchdown run and two-point conversion by Mooney to put the lead back at double digits with 3:30 to go.

Huntland’s defense made a big stop on the next drive for Highland Rim as Martin intercepted a pass over the middle to give the ball back to the Huntland offense.

Mooney recorded his fifth rushing touchdown of the day on the ensuing possession, and Davis Keith ran the ball into the end zone on the two-point conversion to bring the lead up to 18 points with two minutes remaining.

Highland Rim made one last push toward the end zone in the final minutes, but Huntland held them off as time expired to seal the 18-point win.

With the win, the Hornets improved to 1-1 on the season.

They will next play on Aug. 17 at South Giles Middle School. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.