Selma held on to win a defensive struggle over Dallas County 13-6 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

After a weather delay halted play Friday evening, the game resumed Saturday with Selma nursing a 7-0 lead. As it turns out, that was all the points the Saints would need.

Both of Selma’s touchdowns came by Marquell Moorer. He intercepted a pass Friday evening and ran it back 30 yards for a score and added a 2-yard touchdown run Saturday that put the game out of reach.

The Selma defense did the rest. The Saints (2-0) held Dallas County (0-1) to 98 yards on 39 plays and the majority of those yards came on one 42-yard pass late in the fourth quarter. Dallas County had just four first downs and averaged just over two yards per play.

“I thought our defense played great and I also think Dallas County’s defense played great,” said Selma head coach Leroy Miles. “You’re talking about a defensive battle. It’s not what fans want to see but coaches know what is going on and the team that makes the least amount of mistakes in these kind of games usually will be the team that wins.”

The game resumed Saturday with 4:42 remaining in the first quarter with Dallas County facing a fourth-and-2 at its own 20-yard line. The Hornets ran a fake punt, but did not get it and gave Selma the ball at the 21.

The Saints moved the ball to the Dallas County 13, but Moorer was sacked on third and fourth down to end the drive. That became the story of the first half — Dallas County’s defense keeping the Hornets in the game.

After another possession by both teams, Selma took over at the Dallas County 18-yard line following a poor punt by the Hornets. Three runs by Jonathan Pressley moved the Saints to the Dallas County 6-yard line, where they were faced with a fourth down.

Moorer handed to Pressley on a run around right end on fourth down, but he tripped over his own feet and fell at the 1-yard line to turn the ball over on downs.

Dallas County ran the clock out and went into halftime down only 7-0. The teams combined for just three first downs in the first half.

“Defensively our guys played their rear ends off,” Smith said. “They lined up correctly. [There were] a few big plays that they gave up but they gave us an opportunity to win the ball game and we did not take advantage of those opportunities because of the things we could not execute when we needed to execute.”

A Patrick Haskell fumble recovery on Selma’s first possession of the second half gave Dallas County its best field position of the game to that point. An 11-yard run by Calvin Starks to the Selma 28 gave the Hornets momentum, but the drive stalled after back-to-back negative plays and Dallas County was forced to punt.

After Paul Daniels’ punt was downed at the Selma 14, the Saints’ offense put together its best drive of the game. Selma had only 44 yards of offense entering the drive but marched 86 yards to milk the clock and add to its cushion.

Moorer connected with Malik Walker on a 32-yard pass and later ran for 26 yards on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-2 at the Dallas County 40.

Runs by Allen King moved Selma inside the 5-yard line. From there, Moorer ran it in on another sneak play to give Selma a 13-0 lead. Broderick Tripp’s extra point was blocked.

In a game where neither team moved the ball consistently, Moorer’s quarterback sneaks ended up being some of the best offensive plays of the game.

“We were able to get a big play on it,” Miles said of the quarterback sneak. “[That] was a big first down Marquell had on one of those plays early on in the fourth quarter.”

It was that kind of game. Even in the win, Selma had only 166 yards of offense on 49 plays.

Dallas County’s Haskell recovered a second Moorer fumble with 2:16 left to play to set the Hornets up for their only score of the game. On the drive’s first play, quarterback Lane Wallace completed a 42-yard pass to Timothy Baker to get Dallas County to the Selma 3.

It took four plays, but Darrell Moorer punched it in from there as he scored from 2 yards out. Sammy Linbaugh’s extra point was wide, leaving the score at 13-6 Saints. The Hornets attempted an onside kick, but Selma’s Aderick Moore recovered it to put the game away.

Next week Selma hosts Paul Bryant, while Dallas County hosts Jemison.