FERRIDAY — Failure to capitalize on the opposing team’s mistakes and shooting themselves in their own foot doomed the Huntington School Hounds, as they lost to Tallulah Academy 16-12 Friday.

The Trojans fumbled the ball four times, losing three of them, but the Hounds did not convert any points on turnovers.

To make matters worse, Huntington had an 89-yard touchdown reception by Eric Bowens negated midway through the fourth quarter by a clipping penalty that took place 20 yards behind the play. The touchdown would have given the Hounds an 18-16 lead.

“Its very, very, very disappointing,” Hounds assistant coach Matt Mason said. “There’s no call for a kid blocking somebody (in the back) when we’ve got a kid 20 yards ahead of him untouched going to the end zone.”

Heading into the game, the Hounds’ coaching staff said one of the keys to the rest of the season would be sustaining long drives and not relying on the big play. They were unable to attain that goal, however, as both of the touchdowns they scored came on gains of more than 50 yards.

Mason attributed the team’s inability to eat up time on the clock to poor blocking by the offensive line.

“We’ve got to get better blocking up front,” Mason said. “We’re not doing a very good job blocking, and we didn’t do a good job blocking tonight.

“Tallulah came in and stacked people in the box. They beat us up front. They played more physical than us and they wanted it more than us.”

Tallulah scored first with 5:09 left in the second quarter on a 1-yard carry by quarterback Jes Shivers. The Trojans scored the 2-point conversion with a pass from Shivers to John Robert Fortenberry.

The Hounds responded on the next drive with a 59-yard touchdown run by Eric Bowens, but failed to get the 2-point conversion.

Huntington took its only lead of the night with 7:32 left in the third quarter. Bowens caught a pass from Hounds quarterback Jess Dossett and ran it 73 yards for a touchdown. The run attempt on the 2-point conversion failed.

Tallulah Academy would take the lead for good with 4:54 left in the third quarter on a Cody Landrum 3-yard touchdown carry. Cody Isaac ran in the 2-point conversion.

The Hounds got the ball back on their own 12 yard line with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter, but Dossett threw an interception on the next play to seal the Hounds’ fate.

Dossett finished 3-for-7 in passing with 123 yards and one interception. Bowens accounted for all 123 receiving yards, and also had 103 rushing yards on 21 attempts.

Mason said his players would have to perform better practice if they want to start winning close games.

“We’ve got to work harder during the week and we’ve got to get better,” Mason said. “Until we get the right attitude and start working harder, and start preparing better, we’re going to come out on the short end of these games.”