Hawks Fall Short Against Linfield

Montgomery, Ala.-Huntingdon Football was defeated by #7 ranked Linfield, 41-34.

Linfield took a 7-0 lead at 13:27 with 1 yard run capping off a 6-play, 75 yard drive. The Hawks answered back with a 4-yard run by quarterback Landon Cotney to tie the game at 7. Cotney found Tyler England for a 60-yard touchdown pass to give the Hawks a 13-7 lead at 7:31 of the first quarter. Linfield scored back-to-back touchdowns at 5:32 and 2:35 to take a 20-13 lead. Huntingdon tied the game at 2:16 with a 82-yard touchdown pass from Cotney to Conner Bradford. 

In the second quarter, Linfield's quarterback rushed 14 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-20 at 6:07. A 48-yard touchdown pass at 1:51 extended Linfield's lead to 34-20. Just before the half, Cotney found England on a 5-yard pass to make it 34-27. 

Linfield made it 41-27 at 4:29 of the third quarter with a  23-yard touchdown pass. Cotney found Bradford again with a 39-yard touchdown pass at 2:15 of the third quarter to make it 41-34 but the Hawks comeback fell short. 

Cotney was 20-41 with 349 yards and 4 touchdowns. Kahari McReynolds led the team with 11 carries for 80 yards. Connor Bradford had 3 receptions for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tyler England totaled 5 receptions for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

Casey Peppers led the defense with 11 tackles while Tucker Spence had 9 tackles, including a sack for a loss of 6 yards. 

"The way that we fought tonight is definitely something to build on and be proud of," Peppers said. "We played with a lot of grit and it doesn't always go your way."

"We showed tonight that we can go toe-to-toe with anybody," Bradford said. "We showed grit tonight and that we won't back down from any team."

"They're a top tier team but I feel like we competed and were right there with them," Cotney said. "I'm proud of everyone's effort tonight."

"We saw things that we need to get ironed out but I can't say enough about how hard we played and how hard we prepared," Coach Mike Turk said. "We went into this game believing we could win up until the very end. There were a few mistakes they obviously capitalized on but I'm just really proud of how we played overall and how we fought."

The Hawks travel to #25 ranked Birmingham Southern on Saturday, September 10th. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM CST.