But Trace Furman dashed those comeback hopes in one play.

After scoring a touchdown with 26 seconds remaining, Furman of Montgomery received the kickoff and took it roughly 70 yards down to the 6 yard line.

One kneel down later, and Montgomery walked away as winners.

Montgomery held off Hughesville, 14-6, in a rivalry Week 1 game on Friday night in Hughesville to start the season wtih a victory.

Connor Anstadt of Hughesville kicks the ball away as he’s under pressure from Garrett Ulrich (77) of Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“I definitely was a little nervous coming into the game myself, but I tried to keep it so the team didn’t know that, but it feels very good to get the first win. It didn’t go as I really would have hoped, would have liked to come out more dominant,” Montgomery coach Joel Knoebel said. “Hughesville did a nice job of probably looking at our scrimmage film and picking up some tendencies. We’ll have to get better each week, but I think we’re in good shape.”

Hughesville avoided the shutout thanks to a trick play with 26 seconds left. On first-and-10 from the 26, Nicholas Stubbs hit Connor Anstadt on a quick slant for 10 yards. As soon as he caught it, Anstadt lateraled it backwards to teammate Chase Shrawder who went 16 yards down the left-side of the field for the touchdown.

While the game had an exciting finish and was close, it was fumbles and penalties that hurt Hughesville. The Spartans had four fumbles and lost three of them, and had numerous big plays called back on penalties, killing drives and preventing momentum from building.

“We knew they had a tough team. They got some older guys who have been playin for quite awhile, so we knew it’d be a tough one,” Hughesville coach Howard Rainey said. “We thought we had a good game plan. Lot of mistakes, lot of fumbles, holding calls at bad times. Kind of got us on the heels early.”

Both teams were scoreless after the first quarter but Montgomery struck with two touchdown drives in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead into the half.

Chase Shrawder of Hughesville tries to outrun Trace Furman of Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Montgomery had a 13-play, 80-yard drive with 5:16 to play to score when Parker Persing had a four-yard touchdown run on a QB keeper for a 7-0 lead. On the ensuing possession, Hughesville fumbled it on its second play on second-and-4 and Montgomery recovered it on Hughesville’s 34. The Red Raiders didn’t need long to punch in a score from there, using just five plays to score when Persing found Cameron Woltz for a 10-yard touchdown on first-and-goal.

“Absolutely (that was big). We went into halftime and we needed to talk to the guys and make some adjustments for the second half. It didn’t give us the results we wanted, but we did move the ball, even in the second half,” Knoebel said. “We slowed the pace down a little bit strategically, but it was very helpful going into the half up 14.”

Montgomery limited Hughesville’s ground game as the Spartans had just 86 rushing yards on 31 carries.

“Our defense, from our D-line to our linebackers to our secondary, in our defense you have to play your position and this defense is doing it very well. They did it well last year after probably Week 5 or 6 of the season and we kind of left it alone as I came over and these kids picked it up really well,” Knoebel said. “The defense is very solid. I’m very proud of how they played as a solid unit tonight all the way until the end. They gave up one score, but kind of a fluke there at the end.”

Hughesville did out-gain Montgomery in the loss, 170-169. Majority of Montgomery’s yards came from the ground game as the Red Raiders had 37 rushes for 125 yards. Josh Knoebel led that ground attack with eight carries for 45 yards, Lincoln Miller had eight for 35 and Hayden Denton ran it seven times for 33 yards. Hughesville was led by Connor Anstadt’s 49 yards (seven carries) and Chase Shrawder’s 33 yards on seven attempts.

Parker Persing (7) of Montgomery hands the ball off to Trace Furman (1) in the first quarter against Hughesville at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Both defenses did well not giving numerous huge plays. Hughesville had just five plays go for more than 10 yards and the Red Raiders had four such plays.

“We knew that they were going to come in and run like a Southern offense from down that way. They were going to run a Wing-T and stuff. We knew if we wanted man-to-man we had the speed to cover them for most part. They did get one big pass off on us, but other than that, we were happy with our man-to-man coverage,” Rainey said. “We have a couple big lineman coming back who were away at boot camp, so next week hopefully we’ll have a little bit stronger line and more experienced line on both sides of the ball. Hopefully that’ll get us back on track.”

Hughesville had a solid drive to end the third quarter and begin the fourth quarter and go into the red zone with a first-and-goal from the 10. But On fourth-and-goal from the 8, Hughesville fumbled during a run, and had to fall on the ball and couldn’t score on the drive.

Nick Stubbs (12) of Hughesville is sacked by Caleb Parkyn (51) and Layne Gingery (75) of Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Nick Stubbs of Hughesville has the ball stripped by Lincoln Miller of Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Nick Stubbs (12) hands off to Jed Abernatha (31) of Hughesville in the third quarter against Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Parker Persing (7) and Briar Persing (22) of Montgomery celebrate their team’s win over Hughesville at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Nick Stubbs (12) of Hughesville avoids the tackle of Connor Jarrett (71) of Montgomery at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

The Hughesville watch as Truce Furman (1) of Montgomery return a kick return late in the game at Hughesville High School Friday night. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette