HURON — A pair of touchdowns with less than a minute remaining in the first half put the Tea Area Titans out in front of the Huron Tigers Friday night, and they never looked back, winning 41-14 at Tiger Stadium.

Huron received the opening kickoff and got an 18-yard run from Jonathan Peterson on the first play of the game, but then stalled out and needed to punt. Tea Area would return the favor, but Huron then went three-and-out again, returning the ball to Tea Area.

With 5:44 left in the first quarter, the Titans had their first long drive, getting a run from Carter Brown and a pass from Brenner Konrad to Cole McKinney totaling 14 yards and the first first down of the game for Tea Area. McKinney then ran up the middle for 12 yards and another first down.

Brown would get a short gain and then Konrad again found McKinney, who leaned forward to get a first down on the Huron 26 yard line.

McKinney ran for seven yards on the first play, but the Titans then went backward, turning the ball over on downs on the Huron 22.

Huron set up to punt after three plays yielded only a one-yard run by Landon Hulst, but the Titans got in and blocked Kolby Hofer’s punt, recovering on the Huron 15.

McKinney took the first handoff after the blocked punt and scored from 15 yards out to put the first score on the board with just 14 seconds left. Tea Area would score a 2-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, Peterson took the ball for Huron, followed his blockers, changed direction with about 30 yards left and returned the kick 92 yards for a touchdown. After an Anderson Porisch extra point, the Tigers were down 8-7 as the first quarter ended.

A strong return began the Titans at their own 44-yard-line. After Brown rambled for four yards, Konrad broke multiple tackles and then took off down the sideline for a 56-yard touchdown run. The point-after kick failed, giving Tea Area a 14-7 lead.

Huron would respond with the longest sustained drive of the first half, eating up nearly five minutes of game time. Huron quarterback Colton McNeil was roughed by the Titan defense, giving the Tigers a first down. After Blake Ellwein caught a jump ball pass by McNeil, Hulst burst up the middle for six yards to cross midfield with a first down.

Unfortunately, after a 4-yard run by Hulst, Huron went backwards, punting to Tea with 6:06 left in the half.

After a big run from Konrad, the Titans were across midfield, but the Tigers defense was able to stiffen up and force a turnover on downs.

Huron was unable to gain, punting after three plays. The Titans took over the ball on their own 30 with 2:35 left in the half and all three timeouts available.

A pair of passes from Konrad to Sam Werdel both gained first downs and got the ball to the Huron 33. Konrad then cut into the middle of the field on a keeper run for another first down. After a procedure penalty backed the Titans up five yards, McKinney bounced outside and sprinted into the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown. The point-after made it 21-7 for Tea with less than a minute remaining in the first half.

On the second play, Tea’s Riley Svanda intercepted McNeil and returned the ball to the Huron 44. Konrad ran for a 17 yard gain to get a first down, then McKinney ran the halfback pass to Svanda for a 32-yard touchdown. After the kick was good, the Titans went into halftime with a 28-7 lead.

Tea Area deferred to the second half on the coin toss to open the game, so they received the ball to begin the second half, starting at their own 31-yard-line.

Konrad avoided a sack and scampered 16 yards for a first down on the second play of the drive. Huron’s defense had held and knocked down a pass on third and long, but on the play, starting linebacker Kolby Hofer was injured and would not return. Konrad found Svanda on fourth down for 26 yards to get inside the Huron 20.

After a pair of short runs, Werdel bounced up the middle and broke tackles for a 10-yard run to the Huron 6 for a first-and-goal. Three plays later, Werdel punched the ball in for the touchdown. Despite missing the point-after, Tea was up 34-7 and ate up more than five and a half minutes of clock.

Huron responded quickly, with McNeil finding Porisch down he field. Porisch made an adjustment to make the catch, then made a few moves to wriggle himself free for a 71-yard score. Porisch also kicked the extra point to get the score back to 34-14.

Tea returned the ensuing kickoff nearly to midfield. On the second play of the drive, Werdel burst through the line and ran 29 yards down to the Huron 22-yard-line. A tipped pass that landed in Huron linebacker defender Oakley Anderson’s hands turned the ball over and stopped the Titan drive.

Huron went three-and-out and punted, but the Titans returned the favor as the third quarter came to an end.

On the first play of the next Tiger drive, McNeil fell on a bad snap, taking the ball all the way back to the Huron 7. On third down, McNeil attempted to connect with Ellwein on the sideline and was intercepted.

Tea Area took over on the Huron 25. Two McKinney runs put the ball down to the two-yard line. After a pair of negative runs and a procedure penalty moved the Titans back to the 12-yard-line, backup quarterback Daschle Lowery found Werdel for the touchdown. After the extra-point kick, the Titans were up 41-14, and that would be the final score as both teams brought in reserves from that point.

The Titans move to 3-1 behind a strong game from Konrad at quarterback, completing 8 of 13 passes for 89 yards and interception while running 11 times for 133 yards and a touchdown before leaving at the end of the third quarter with an injury.

McKinney ran 11 times for 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns while grabbing three passes for 32 yards. Werdel ran eight times for 65 yards and a score and also caught a pair of passes for 33 yards and a score. He also led the defense with nine tackles.

Svanda snagged three catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Huron falls to 0-3. McNeil completed 5 of 16 passes for 93 yards one touchdown and two interceptions. Hulst ran 12 times for 16 yards and Peterson gained 17 yards on six carries. Porisch made two grabs for 73 yards and a score.

The Tigers defense was led by 14 tackles by Oakley Anderson and eight by Mason Jurgens.

Huron coach Dru Strand was happy with his team’s effort, noting that the physicality of Tea was no surprise.

“We have to get physical and stay physical with teams like this,” Strand stated. “They like to go old school and run the ball and eat up the clock.”

The Tigers will host Sturgis on Friday for homecoming.

Score by quarters

Scoring summary
First quarter
0:14 - TA - Cole McKinney 15-yard TD run. (Brenner Konrad 2-pt pass to Carter Brown good)
0:00 - H - Jonathan Peterson 92-yard kickoff return for TD. (Anderson Porisch PAT kick is good)

Second quarter
10:57 - TA - Konrad 56-yard TD run. (PAT kick by Grifin Wiebenga is no good)
0:56 - TA - McKinney 22-yard TD run. (Wiebenga kick is good)
0:00 - TA - McKinney 32-yard TD pass to Riley Svanda. (Wiebenga kick is good)

Third quarter
6:13 - TA - Sam Werdel 4-yard TD run. (Wiebenga kick no good)
5:20 - H - Colton McNeil 71-yard TD pass to Porisch. (Porisch kick good)

Fourth quarter
8:36 - TA - Daschle Lowery 12-yard TD pass to Werdel. (Wiebenga kick good)