TRENTON, Fla. — Within its grasp at halftime, Friday night’s game — and the football — slipped through the Lafayette Hornets’ fingers on a slew of third-quarter onside kicks.

Trailing by a touchdown at intermission, Trenton scored three touchdowns before the Hornets ran an offensive play in the third quarter to gain control on the way to a 47-34 win.

Trenton 47, Lafayette 34

Lafayette	13	0	0	21	— 34
Trenton	0	7	27	13	— 47

First Quarter

LHS — Jaxson Beach 17 run (Beach kick)

LHS — Garris Edwards 5 run (kick blocked)

Second Quarter

THS — Randy Fuller 4 run (Wesley Mantsfield kick)

Third Quarter

THS — Tyrique Baber 34 run (kick wide right)

THS — Eric Henry 5 run (Mantsfield kick)

THS — Wyatt Langford 30 pass from Baber (Mantsfield kick)

THS — Henry 32 run (Mantsfield kick)

Fourth Quarter

LHS — Beach 1 run (Beach kick)

THS — Baber 1 run (Mantsfield kick)

LHS — Ben Massey 79 pass from Beach (Beach kick)

THS — Henry 28 run (kick wide right)

LHS — Garrett Spikes 43 pass from Beach (Beach kick)

	Lafayette	Trenton
First Downs	7	23
Rush-Yds	29-104	69-469
Passing	174	61
Com-Att-Int	9-13-0	4-7-0
Pen-Yds	9-45	15-113
Fum-Lost	4-4	3-2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lafayette, Beach 21-75, Edwards 8-29. Trenton, Henry 25-234, Baber 12-91, Fuller 20-88, Langford 11-58, Team 1-(-2).

PASSING — Lafayette, Beach 9-13-0 174. Trenton, Baber 4-7-0 61.

RECEIVING — Lafayette, Massey 3-95, Spikes 2-46, Kerby Hanson 2-18, Edwards 1-11, Dakota Rogers 1-4. Trenton, Langford 2-49, Daniel Plank 1-18, Henry 1-(-6).

“It was just a frustrating night in that we didn’t really give ourselves a chance,” Lafayette coach Joey Pearson said as the Hornets dropped their first game to fall to 8-1.

After the Tigers, who held the ball for all but five plays in the second quarter, tied the game on a 34-yard run from quarterback Tyrique Baber to conclude a six-play drive to open the third, Trenton recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Eight plays later — and one snap after Randy Fuller converted a fourth-and-1 with a six-yard run — Eric Henry scored from 5 yards out to put the 6-2 Tigers ahead for good.

Another onside kick recovery gave Trenton the ball right back again and on a fourth-and-4, Baber found Wyatt Langford wide open behind the Hornet defense for a 30-yard score and a 27-13 lead with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Once the Hornets got the ball back, they didn’t have it long. On their second play, quarterback Jaxson Beach fumbled at the end of seven-yard run and Baber recovered for the Tigers.

Two plays later, Henry raced untouched from 32 yards out to put Trenton up 34-13 with 2:20 remaining in the third.

At that point in the period, it was not pretty math for the Hornets. Four Trenton touchdowns. Three Lafayette fumbles. Two Hornet offensive snaps.

“You can not win the game turning the ball over,” Pearson said. “By then, it was hard to get back into the game.”

Lafayette, though, regrouped and kept battling.

Beach scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 1-yard sneak to cap a 10-play drive to make it a two-score game barely a minute into the fourth.

Baber and Henry each added another rushing score in the fourth as Trenton finished with 469 yards rushing on 69 carries. Henry, a senior, led the way with 234 on 25 totes.

Lafayette answered both scores with TDs of its own. First, Beach found a streaking Ben Massey on a 79-yard slant two plays after the Hornets recovered a fumble in the end zone.

Then, Beach hit a wide open Austin Walden behind the Trenton secondary from 43 yards out with 38 seconds remaining. Beach completed 9 of 13 passes for 174 yards, while also leading the Hornets with 75 yards rushing on 21 carries.

Beach put Lafayette up 7-0 with a highlight-reel scamper. The sophomore hurdled a Trenton defender on his way to the end zone from 15 yards out with 6:33 left in the first.

After Trenton fumbled three plays later, the Hornets went back to work and scored nine plays later on a 5-yard Garris Edwards run.

But Trenton, which was held to just 37 yards in the first quarter, gained steam in the second. The Tigers scored on a 4-yard Fuller run with 7:53 left in the second to conclude a 12-play drive that lasted more than five minutes.

“The first half went exactly how we wanted it to go,” Pearson said of the 13-7 Lafayette advantage. “But then we didn’t get the ball back again really until there was two minutes left in the third quarter.

“It just kind of got away from us.”