FERRIDAY, La. – The Pine Hills Wildcats took a third quarter lead and held on for a 29-26 upset win over district rival Huntington Friday.

In fact, the Wildcats (2-7, 1-2) held on to the ball for nearly the entire third quarter – the Hounds ran only one play, and it came with nine seconds left.

Surprisingly, the third quarter opened with a Huntington score. The second-half kick-off was fumbled by Pine Hills and recovered by Huntington’s Jordan Owens, who ran it in for a touchdown and a 20-17 lead.

The Wildcats responded with a five-minute, nine-play dive that ended in a score and another lead change.

Jonathan Honea, who has started at quarterback for Pine Hills all year, played the majority of the game at fullback. Honea took a pitch outside and surprised the Hounds by hitting a wide-open Joey Sturdivant for a 20-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was blocked, giving the Wildcats a 23-20 lead.

&uot;We just decided to try it,&uot; Honea said of his new position. &uot;The season hadn’t been going real great.&uot;

Pine Hills then recovered an onsides kick and kept the ball for another six minutes. The 14-play drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Honea.

Huntington (5-4, 1-2) closed the scoring gap to three in the fourth quarter after Travis McElwee fell on a Wildcats fumble to set up a 17-yard Barrett Arthur touchdown run. The extra point failed, making the score 29-26.

The Hounds got the ball back with 2:43 left in the game when Arthur recovered another Pine Hills fumble.

Arthur hit Josh Johns on a 10-yard out pattern, and Johns quickly lateraled the ball to a streaking Luke Davis, who took the ball to the Pine Hills 10-yard-line.

Wildcats linebacker Andrew Hollowell ended the rally two plays later, however, when he stepped in front of a Arthur pass for an easy interception.

&uot;I saw him (Arthur) turn his head and stepped that way,&uot; Hollowell said. &uot;I got up and took it, and took off, baby.&uot;

Chris Guidry led the Wildcats in rushing with 166 yards on 23 carries. Honea added 114 yards on 17 carries with two TDs.

Arthur led the Hounds with 75 yards and two TDs on 14 carries.

Huntington hosts district rival Trinity next week, while Pine Hills hosts district power Amite School Center.