A fumble at the end of the first half and a fumble midway through the fourth quarter were the difference in the Salado Eagles’ 21-7 home loss to the Grandview Zebras.

Grandview’s Matt Lehnhart stepped into a handoff and snatched it away, running untouched for a 40-yard defensive touchdown with no time left on the first half clock, after the Eagles had stopped the powerful Zebra offense on a fourth down try. Dale Jentsch converted a two-point try to give the Zebras a 14-0 halftime lead.

Salado Eagles defense stopped Grandview on three fourth downs in the first half to keep the game tight. Wrook Brown buried a 59 yard punt at the Zebra 1 yard line at 4:02 in the first, but Grandview drove 99 yards in 17 plays, capped by Gavin Leftwich’s 4 yard touchdown run with 10:06 left in the first half.The Zebras even recovered their own fumble by Jentsch when Matt Kehnhardt fell on a loose ball to keep the drive alive at the Salado 21 yard line. Grandview missed the extra point and led 6-0.

After stopping the Eagles on a fourth-and-7 at the Grandview 35 yard line, the Zebras drove to the Salado 17 yard line before three false starts and a recovered fumble set up a third and 26. The Zebras turned the ball over on downs with 2:35 left in the half. Following a three-and-out, Salado punted and Grandview took over with 44 ticks on the first half clock. Three plays later, Jentsch connected with Luke Kirkpatrick, but LaTrell Jenkins stopped him short of a first down to give Salado the ball with 3 seconds left in the half.

The fluke handoff theft for a touchdown gave the Zebras a 14-0 lead, rather than a 6-0 lead with Salado receiving the second half kick-off.

The Eagles were forced to punt on the first possession of the second half, setting up a 62 yard drive. The Eagles defense defended against Jentsch’s passing in the red zone and Luke Ferguson missed a 26 yard field goal, turning the ball over to Salado at the Eagle 20 yard line.

The Salado run offense pounded the ball to the Zebra 40 yard line over the next 3:33. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Noah Mescher blew threw the middle of the strong Grandview defense for a touchdown. Brown kicked the extra point to bring Salado to within a touchdown, 7-14, with 11:50 left on the game clock.

Grandview drove from their 27 yard line to the Salado 10 yard for a first and goal. Jentsch kept the ball, fumbling it into the endzone where Jayden Mangrum fell on it for the Zebra touchdown just before it went out the back of the end zone. Ferguson converted the PAT for a 21-7 lead with 7:42 left in the game.

The teams swapped possession twice more as the clock ran down for Salado.

Reid Vincent led the Eagles with 91 yards on 13 carries. Noah Mescher had 79 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

Dane Jentsch threw the ball 22 times for 13 completions and 140 yards for Grandview. Gavin Leftwich led the Zebras with 160 yards, a touchdown and a fumble on 28 carries. Hentsch had 85 yards on 13 carries and a fumble.