DEMOPOLIS &8212; With every high school year comes a football season. And with every football season comes that game &8212; homecoming &8212; the one night, above all else, the home team hopes for a victory. Unfortunately, for first-year coach Fentress Means and his Hornets, that win was not meant to be last night as they took on the Fruitdale Pirates.

Amid the penalties, punts, and paltry passes, neither the Hornets, 8-1 on the season, nor the Pirates, 5-4 on the season, were able to find the end zone in the first quarter of play.

In the second period, the Hornet defense stepped up a notch as Ken Phillips made two interceptions, one of which he ran back for an 80-yard touchdown. The Hornets converted the two points and stepped ahead 8-0 with 7:21 in the first quarter.

The Pirates were quick to answer with a 4-yard run by Cody Thomas. Their quarterback connected with Chris Tramell and the two-point conversion was good.

As the Stillman College Marching Band took the field for halftime entertainment, the score was tied at 8-8.

The second half began as Fruitdale received the kickoff at their 39-yard line. From that point forward, the game was a constant skirmish of turnovers.

Although both teams threatened each other with an occasional trip to the red-zone, neither scored in the second half of regulation play.

As the teams moved into overtime, John Essex won the toss and chose to defend the end zone first &8212; logical call, but at this point it didn&8217;t seem to matter one way or the other to Fruitdale. On third down, the Pirates&8217; quarterback found the endzone on a six-yard run. The conversion failed, but all that was needed had been taken.

The Hornets&8217; attempt to score was fruitless as they failed on fourth and six.

Despite 12 penalties totaling 85 yards, the Pirates came away with the win 14-8.

On the night, the Hornets mustered up 88 yards of total offense against the Pirates&8217; 282 yards. Martin completed one of 10 passes for John Essex and gave up zero interceptions. The Hornet&8217;s lost their only fumble.

And he&8217;s right; had Phillips&8217; not made his interceptions, it&8217;s only sensible to infer that the game would have ended within regulation play.