JEWELL – A game in which South Hamilton was seemingly in control of all went wrong over the final 5 minutes Friday night at Taylor Field.

And instead of celebrating a victory, the Hawks trudged to the locker room saddled with a season-opening loss.

A quarterback change midway through the second half and a late burst enabled West Marshall to end an 11-game losing skid dating back to October of 2013, 15-12. Trailing South Hamilton 12-0, the Trojans scored 15 unanswered points over the final 4:11 of regulation.

“Honestly, we controlled the entire game, the first half especially,” South Hamilton first-year head coach Corey Klemp said. “They gave us every opportunity in the world to put it away, but we just didn’t.”

South Hamilton (0-1) forced six turnovers and won that battle, 6-2, but too many little miscues stalled drives and kept the Hawks from pouring it on.

“We would get drives going, but then we’d have a penalty or something and then have to punt it away,” Klemp said. “We couldn’t get our inside run game established and that makes it tough to do what we want to do.”

An injury to wingback Jake Hand forced the Hawks to change their game plan on the fly. Fullback Logan Klemp, who logged 24 carries in the first half alone, moved over to Hand’s spot and piled up a game-high 126 yards rushing.

South Hamilton finished with 177 yards of total offense, but only nine of those yards came through the air. West Marshall (1-1) was a little better with balance (174 rushing, 53 passing) and put up 227 total yards.

But it was the move to back-up quarterback Eli Tremain that ultimately made the difference. He picked up 72 yards on the ground on 10 carries and passed for another 41 yards. Brady Petermeier was on the receiving end of Tremain’s one completion and near the goal line before being stripped of the ball. But Ross Randall was there to recover it in the end zone to pull West Marshall within 12-7.

South Hamilton went nowhere fast on the ensuring possession and was forced to punt it right back to the Trojans. A big return by Beau Coberly set the visitors up at the Hawks’ 20-yard line, and just a few plays later Tremain put the ball across the goal line from 3 yards out for the go-ahead score.

“We played well (defensively) and held them in check until they made the quarterback change,” Corey Klemp said. “That’s when they were able to move the ball.

“This was a tough first outing, but we had to get a starting point somewhere.”

A 5-yard touchdown run by Logan Klemp with 4:59 remaining in the first quarter pushed South Hamilton out to an early 6-0 lead. The score remained that way until Luke Peters took a pitch and went 3 yards to the house for a 12-0 cushion with 10:31 to go in regulation.

Peters chewed up 42 yards on 11 totes in the loss. Quarterback Blake Barquist completed 2 of 9 passes and was intercepted twice.

Logan Klemp led the dense with 11 tackles and an interception. Treyton Twedt also picked off West Marshall starting signal caller Parker Hulbert. Brian Greenfield recovered a pair of fumbles, while Jared Ullestad and Colton Schwerin both fell on top of one.

Peters also made four tackles. Grant Evans was in on three stops.

It certainly won’t get any easier for South Hamilton this Friday when it hosts sixth-ranked Madrid (2-0) to open up the Class 1A District 7 slate.

“It will be a good test, that’s for sure,” Corey Klemp said. “It’s pretty clear that they’re the district favorite, but we really don’t have anything to lose.”