Area football

Glidden-Ralston 41, Murray 32

MURRAY — Murray spotted Glidden-Ralston a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, fought back to make it a 35-32 game with just over six minutes and change remaining, before falling 41-32.

The loss snapped a 16-game home winning streak for the Mustangs.

“I think as the season goes along, we’re going to see Glidden being one of the top teams in their district,” Murray head coach Keith Shields said. “They’re a real quality team to play in a Zero Week game. I think both teams will continue to improve.”

The Mustangs looked to be on their way to scoring early, moving the ball inside the 15-yardline, but on a fourth-and-one, committed a false start penalty, and then failed to convert on fourth down, coming away with zero points.

Glidden-Ralston then reeled off 28 straight points before Andrew Rider returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown to close it to 28-7 at half.

Murray kept the run going, scoring two more defensive touchdowns to open the second half — a 27-yard interception return by Sam Rockhold and a 3-yard fumble return by Matt Barnes.

“I really felt good about our defense all night,” Shields said. “We blew a couple of pass coverages, but those are things we can fix. Our effort and play on defense, especially against the run was great all night.”

A Seth Nerness 1-yard touchdown run with 6:39 left in the game cut the lead to 35-32.

But, Glidden-Ralston converted a fourth-and-26 into a 28-yard touchdown with 1:43 remaining to put the game on ice, as Jake Bruggeman took a pass out of the backfield and broke a tackle at the 5-yardline and scampered into the endzone.

“I think if our kids would have come out and played a team we would have had an opportunity to blow out, we might not have learned as much about ourselves as we did Friday night,” Shields said. “I think it showed a lot about our kids, the effort they put in as far as continuing to compete down 28-0.”

Barnes finished the game 4-of-14 passing for 71 yards with one touchdown. He also picked up 40 yards on the ground.