TEA — The Huron Tigers ran into a Titan-sized buzz saw Friday night, as they traveled to take on last year’s Class 11AA runner up and suffered a 45-6 set back against the Tea Area Titans.

New Huron coach Dru Strand came up short on his first game as a head coach, as the Tigers had no answer for the powerful Titans offense and were unable to move the ball against the Tea Area defense.

After Huron took the opening kickoff and garnered a first down, the Tigers were forced to punt into the breeze. The result was a zero-yardage punt and Tea took over on Huron’s 24-yard line. Five plays later, Chase Van Toll broke the ice with an 11-yard scamper, then added the point after.

The teams then traded three-and-outs, Tea took over on the Huron 47-yard line and Titans took to the air, with an option pass from Blake Thompson connecting with Parker Mulder for 53 yards and set the stage for a seven-yard touchdown run by Keegan DeYoung.

Thompson shortened the next Huron drive, stepping in front of a Mason Davis pass at the Huron 37, and Titan quarterback Maddix Slykhuis scored on the next play to push the lead to 21-0 as the first quarter expired.

Although the change of quarter put the breeze at Huron’s back, the Tigers still struggled to move the ball.

A Dylan Lichty punt put Tea Area at the Huron 25-yard line, but the Titans tightened their chin straps, and ground out an 11-play drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock.

While Tea Area marched down the field, the Huron defense stiffened with their backs to their own goal line and forced the Titans to kick a 24-yard field goal and the lead grew to 24-0 with 4:30 in the half.

Huron went three and out again, but fumbled the snap on the punt and Tea Area covered the muff at the Huron 5-yard line. Slykhuis quickly converted, finding Thompson with a touchdown pass.

Huron came out re-focused, however DeYoung denied the Tigers, stepping in front of a Davis pass on Huron’s first play of the new possession and returning it 30-yards for the score.

The Tigers quickly got a first down on its next possession, as Davis connected with Reilyn Zavesky for a 10-yard pass. DeYoung, however, thwarted any momentum as he read a short pass, got a hand on it and returned it for another 30-yard ‘pick six,’ for the Titans and brought the half to a close with Tea Area holding a 45-0 lead. In that first half, the Titans took only one snap on their side of the field, and benefitted from the short field.

“Tea is very good, they have good kids,” said Strand after the game. “We need to work at becoming more aggressive, more physical on the line.”

The second half featured a running clock and play moved quickly. Huron was able to stop Tea on two consecutive possessions, taking over on downs as they refused to yield any further scoring.

As the game moved to the fourth quarter, Huron mounted by far its most successful drive of the evening, showing an even balance of runs and passes to move the ball down the field. The 80-yard drive consumed nearly seven minutes and was capped with Davis caught wideout CJ Gainey in stride for the 20-yard touchdown.

Key plays on the drive were a 16-yard Davis pass to Zavesky and a 22-yard Davis run that kept the drive alive.

Huron ran for 11 yards and threw for 87 in the game. Davis was 6 of 16 through the air and had three interceptions. Quinston Luellman carried the ball 21 times for the Tigers, and Gavin Moeding led the receivers with 40 yards on two catches.

The Titans rolled up 210 yards on the ground and added 66 through the air. Slykhuis was 3-6 through the air and also ran for 66 yards on seven carries.

Huron, now 0-1, is back in action on the road next Friday, traveling to Watertown to take on the Arrows.

Score by quarters
Huron       0    0  0  6 — 6
Tea Area     21  24  0  0 — 45

Scoring summary
1st Quarter
8:33 — Tea Area, Chase Van Toll, 11-yard run. Van Toll PAT.
2:26 — Tea Area, Keegan DeYoung, 7-yard run. Van Toll PAT.
0:54 — Tea Area, Maddix Slykhuis, 37-yard run. Van Toll PAT.

2nd Quarter
4:30 — Tea Area, Van Toll, 24-yard field goal.
2:34 — Tea Area, Blake Thompson, 5-yard pass from Slykhuis. Van Toll PAT.
2:21 — Tea Area, Keegan DeYoung, 30-yard interception return. Van Toll PAT.
1:27 — Tea Area, DeYoung, 30-yard interception return. Van Toll PAT.

3rd Quarter
No scoring

4th Quarter
4:05 — Huron, CJ Gainey, 20-yard pass from Mason Davis. PAT failed.