By J.R. Tidwell

The Tuscaloosa News

TUSCALOOSA — The Holt Ironmen saw the light, picking up their first win of the 2011 season by defeating the Dallas County Hornets 35-10 after a lighting failure delayed the game for one hour.

Holt jumped on top of Dallas County early and did not let up, as the Ironmen scored 28 points by intermission, enough to put away the Hornets.

“We had two tough practices on Monday and Tuesday,” Holt head coach Tim Gillespie said.

“We went back and went over the fundamentals, like blocking and tackling.

Freshman receiver David Robinson put the Ironmen on the board six minutes into the first quarter by scoring on a 10-yard run.

The Ironmen passing game dominated the second quarter, scoring 21 points. Freshman quarterback Devonta Jenkins (12-22 for 181 yards) threw touchdown passes of 29 and 3 yards, the first to senior running back John Hood and the second to senior receiver Steven Brown.

The other touchdown came on a trick play from the water bucket formation where Hood threw to junior tight end Brian Murray for the score.

Dallas County finally saw their first score of the game late in the third quarter when Jenkins was flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone, giving the Hornets a safety.

Dallas County put together a scoring drive after the free kick, scoring on a 25-yard run by sophomore Matthew Putman, cutting Holt’s lead to 28-8 after the two-point conversion failed.

Hood scored again for the Ironmen on a 33-yard run with 5:31 remaining in the game.

The Hornets scored their final points of the game with just over two minutes remaining when their defense stopped a Holt running back in the end zone for another safety.

Holt needed only to run out the clock on their ensuing possession to pick up the win.

“It’s much easier and much more fun to correct mistakes after a win,” Gillespie said.

The Holt Ironmen (1-3) will play at Northside and the Dallas County Hornets (0-4) will play at Greensboro next Friday.