Halloween is still a month away, but a trick play proved to be a treat for the Huntington Hounds, who improved to 4-2 with a 20-14 homecoming win over the Mount Olive Christian School Eagles Friday night.

The Hounds grabbed the lead early when senior running back Luke Davis ran for a 48-yard touchdown with 5:28 left in the first quarter. A two-point conversion was also courtesy of Davis.

But it was the trick play just before halftime that had fans and Eagle players alike looking for the ball. They soon found it in the endzone, tucked in the hands of senior tight end Zack Brown with 41 seconds left on the clock.

But the Eagles had already made their mark in the final seconds of the first quarter when star running back Jordan Newlan led a 4-play scoring drive triggered by a blocked Huntington punt that put the Eagles on the Hounds 24.

Newlan scored the touchdown on a 1-yard run to make the score 8-6 at the time.

An inadvertent whistle in the opening minutes of the second quarter left the Hounds wondering what might have been when play was stopped just as junior quarterback Barrett Arthur found open field.

Penalties plagued the second half — Mount Olive’s game total was 10 for a loss of 85 yards and Huntington had six for a loss of 45 yards. Despite the yellow flags, the Eagles turned on their passing game, boosting sophomore quarterback Kevin Hollenbeck’s game total to 8 of 18 for 109 yards.

Both teams found time to score again — the Hounds on a rushing drive dominated by senior running back Kenneth Clayton and the Eagles with a drawn-out mix of passes and rushes that allowed Newlan to walk into the endzone with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

With just over a minute to go in the game, the Hounds dipped into their bag of tricks again to gain a first down, but chose to let Arthur take a knee as the seconds wound down.

Huntington Coach Gerald Reeves said he would take the victory, but was not happy with it.

&uot;Long story short — we didn’t play well,&uot; Reeves said. &uot;There’s not too many times you can play like that and win.&uot;

The Hounds’ Davis led in rushing with 79 yards on 14 carries, and the Eagle’s Arthur was close behind with 70 yards on 18 carries.

Huntington travels to Wilkinson County Christian School next week.