Pleasant Home’s Eagles fought hard to dig themselves out of a hole created early in their matchup with Georgiana Friday night on the road, but ultimately fell short, dropping the contest 42-22.

Head coach Cody McCain said his team fought hard after falling behind 22-0 early in the game, but was not quite able to close the scoring gap.

“We made a few mistakes and got down 22-0 to start the game,” McCain said. “But we regained our composure and made it 22-7 at halftime. The kids really responded well.”

The Eagles’ lone first-half touchdown came in spectacular fashion in the form of 75-yard pick six from Ashton Harrington.

The Eagles continued to feed off their newly gained momentum in the second half as Pleasant Home was able to cap off a drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Garrett Barton.

The Eagles found the end zone once more on the last play of the third quarter after full back Carl Whitehurst broke free for a 20-yard run to the 1-yard-line, before punching the ball in on the ground on the following play.

McCain said, despite his offense’s improvement, his team never could catch up completely with Georgiana.

“It was kind of back and forth in the second half,” McCain said. “We let them get away with some stuff. We had them in a third and long situation and they ended up converting on fourth and five and scoring. We were two scores down the entire second half. We never could close the gap, but the kids fought hard.”

Friday night’s loss is something McCain said he hopes his team can learn from and use in upcoming games.

The Eagles (1-4, 1-3) will face a tough Geneva team next Friday at home.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at a lot of film, but they’re ranked in the top 10,” McCain said. “We’re going to have our hands full. But we’re just trying to take it one game at a time.”

Pleasant Home versus Geneva will kick off next Friday night at 7 p.m.