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The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Whitwell Tigers 20-6 at home Friday in their first game of the season.

The Hornets made it into enemy territory on six of their eight possessions in the contest, but they weren’t able to turn most of those opportunities into points as they opened the year with a loss.

Huntland head football coach Kermit Reed said that his team made mistakes that were difficult to overcome despite some positives being shown on the field.

“We had a fumble on the goal line and some mental mistakes that, in the end, cost us, but our kids played hard,” he said. “That was a really good football team we played, and we didn’t succumb to their pressure. We kept fighting and made it a football game for the whole 48 minutes.”

The Tigers opened the contest with a 77-yard drive which ended in a touchdown run. A successful point-after attempt gave Whitwell a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the opening period.

The Hornets brought the ball into enemy territory on their first possession, but a fumble was recovered by the Tigers for a turnover and returned to Huntland’s 36-yard line.

The Tigers moved the ball inside of Huntland’s 10-yard line on the ensuing possession before an interception on fourth down by Grant Jernigan gave the ball back to the Hornets at their own 5-yard line.

The Hornets then drove all the way down to Whitwell’s 1-yard line, but a fumble on a fourth-down run was recovered by the Tigers to end the scoring opportunity.

The Tigers started the next drive about a half-yard in front of their own end zone following a personal-foul penalty that was assessed after the fumble, but the Tigers proceeded to conduct a 99-yard touchdown drive to put the score at 13-0 in the final minute of the first half.

Huntland trailed 13-0 at halftime.

The Hornets started the second half with the ball and were forced to punt the ball back to Whitwell.

However, the Tigers gave the ball right back a few minutes later as another interception by Jernigan set up the Hornets at Whitwell’s 44-yard line.

The Hornets were only able to pick up one first down on their ensuing drive before turning the ball over on downs, and the Tigers were then able to move inside of Huntland’s 10-yard line again on their next possession before they also turned the ball over on downs in the final seconds of the third quarter.

The Hornets then put together their lone scoring drive of the day as the 92-yard possession ended in a touchdown run by Jarren Kinslow to make it a 13-6 game with about 10 minutes remaining.

The Tigers answered back quickly as they worked their way down the field and concluded a 73-yard drive with another rushing touchdown to grow the deficit back up to 20-6 with 6:23 left on the clock.

The Hornets seemed poised to score again as they quickly brought the ball down to Whitwell’s 23-yard line on their ensuing possession, but four straight incompletions followed to give the ball back to Whitwell with four minutes to go.

The Tigers ran about three minutes off the clock before punting the ball back to the Hornets, and an interception on a Huntland pass in the end zone as time expired sealed the 14-point loss for Huntland

With the loss, the Hornets started their season with a record of 0-1.

They will next play Friday at home against Grundy County High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.