Salado Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead at home over the Gatesville Hornets, but the Hornets poured on 34 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to take control and held on for a 48-35 win Oct. 14.

After swapping three-and-outs to start the game, Salado drew first blood on a 1-yard run by Luke Law to cap an 88-yard, seven-play drive that included passes by Luke Law of 17-yards to Roman Law, 20-yards to Caden Strickland and 11-yards to Seth Reavis and a 30-yard run up the middle by Kase Maedgen. Daniel Chtay kicked the extra point to give Salado a 7-0 lead  at 7:46 in the first.

The Eagles extended the lead to 14-0 on a 2-yard run by Maedgen with 10:01 left in the first half.

Over the next 20 minutes of game time, Gatesville would score on TD passes from Jacob Newkirk to Rayshon Smith for 15-yards, Kasen Bankhead for 66-yards,  Tyler Shea for 3-yards and Travor Smith for 8-yards and 9-yards. The Eagles blocked one of the PAT kicks resulting in a 34-14 lead for the Hornets with 6:36 left in the third.

Luke Law scored on a 20-yard run and Chtay’s kick made it 34-21 with 4:12 left in the third.

Newkirk connected with Kyle Shafer for a 43-yard Hornet touchdown with 2:36 left in the third and a 41-21 lead over the Eagles.

Law connected with Reavis for a 10-yard touchdown with 11:25 left to play. Chtay’s kick narrow the lead to 41-28.

Gatesville answered with a 2-yard touchdown run by Smith with 4:58 to play.

Law scored the final touchdown of the game on a 3-yard run with 3:20 left to play. Chtay’s kick made it 48-35.

The loss drops Salado to 1-1 in district 11-4A, division 2. In other district play, Madisonville beat Robinson 65-23 while Connally had a bye week.

Connally and Madisonville are both 1-0. Gatesville and Salado are both 1-1 and Robinson is 0-2 in district play. The Eagles travel to Connally to face the 5-2 Cadets. Kick off is 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21. Madisonville travels to Gatesville. Robinson has the week off.