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The Huntland Middle School Hornets lost to the Cornersville Bulldogs 47-20 at home Thursday for their third loss of the season.

The Bulldogs scored on six of their seven possessions for the game while the Hornets, battling injuries and illnesses going into the contest, were held scoreless after halftime in defeat.

Huntland Middle head football coach Mike Jernigan said it was a hard-fought game with external factors hurting his team as the game went on.

“Earlier in the week, I had as many as 14 kids out. We’ve had some sickness roll through and got some kids that still weren’t 100 percent tonight but tried to go and do their best,” he said. “I’ll commend them for doing that, but I have to say, we weren’t at full strength and we weren’t at full speed. As the game went on, it began to show.”

The Hornets wasted little time getting their first touchdown as Bryant Mooney broke free for a 62-yard scoring run on the second snap of the day. Mooney also scored on the two-point conversion to give Huntland an 8-0 lead about a minute into the contest.

The Bulldogs responded back quickly as they also scored a rushing touchdown two plays into their first drive to tie the score at 8-8 about two minutes into the first quarter.

The Hornets then put together a 76-yard drive which took almost six minutes off the clock and ended in a touchdown pass from Mooney to Brodie Bradshaw to put Huntland in front 14-8 with 11 seconds to go in the opening period.

The Bulldogs had a successful fourth-and-18 conversion attempt on a fake-punt run called back due to a holding penalty, but they proceeded to also convert the ensuing fourth-and-24 on another fake-punt run to move the ball into Huntland territory.

However, the Hornets prevented much more forward movement from Cornersville and forced a turnover on downs inside their own 20-yard line to end the possession.

The Hornets gained just two yards before turning the ball right back over on downs, and the Bulldogs scored on a touchdown pass one play later. A two-point conversion after the score put Huntland behind by a 16-14 margin with 1:09 left in the first half.

The Hornets were able to answer back just before the end of the half as Mooney sprinted for a 52-yard rushing touchdown to give Huntland a 20-16 advantage.

However, the Hornets weren’t able to take a lead into halftime as the Bulldogs returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown as time expired for the second quarter to immediately jump back in front.

The Hornets trailed 24-20 at halftime.

The Hornets went for an onside kick to start the third quarter with Bradshaw recovering the ball at Cornersville’s 40-yard line, but they were pushed backwards from there and turned the ball over on downs at midfield.

The Bulldogs scored another touchdown a few plays later with a Cornersville receiver catching a long pass, fumbling the ball, scooping it back up and running the rest of the way to the end zone to make it a 32-20 game with 2:43 left in the third quarter.

The Hornets were able to advance into enemy territory on their next possession before the drive stalled with another turnover on downs giving the Bulldogs the ball back.

The Bulldogs added another touchdown run to their tally on the ensuing possession to push the deficit up to 39-20 with 3:27 remaining.

An interception thrown by the Hornets gave the Bulldogs the ball back at midfield, and they scored one more touchdown with 47 seconds to play to put the final deficit at 27 points.

With the loss, the Hornets moved to 5-3 on the season.

They will next play Tuesday at home against Unity Middle School in an Elk Valley Conference bowl game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.