TURNER — Cony and Leavitt’s matchup lived up to the hype.

The Hornets, in their homecoming game, held off a fourth-quarter Rams rally and won Saturday’s football game, 28-25.

“Mason Henderson was the difference maker in the game,” Cony coach B.L. Lippert said. “He’s a pretty good player.”

Henderson scored three touchdowns — two on the ground and one receiving. The Leavitt junior left last week’s game, a 35-6 loss to Deering, with an injury.

“I came in this game not knowing if I was going to get cleared to play or not,” Henderson said. “I got cleared and I said, ‘I have a whole week to recover and I am going to put everything I have into this one week because it’s a big week.’ This is a great team over there with great coaching, great players. This was a big win, not only for the standings but a big win for the morale of the team.”

The Hornets improve to 2-2 with the win.

Anderson St. Onge ran for two TDs for Cony, which nearly rallied back from a 21-point deficit.

“I was proud with the effort, but we had too many selfish penalties,” Cony coach B.L. Lippert said. “We had three unsportsmanlike penalties for running our mouth after plays. That’s not the brand we built here, that was frustrating. I know it was a tough environment and they were getting up on us early.”

Lippert added that he was also a little animated on the sideline.

Leavitt appeared to be in complete control when quarterback Brock Poulin threw an 8-yard TD pass to Landon Daigle that put the Hornets up 28-7 after Keegan Reny’s extra point with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter.

“I didn’t even run the correct route,” Daigle said. “I saw I had inside leverage on him and kind of posted up in the middle, and my quarterback, Brock, made a good play.”

Cony (2-2) started moving the ball on its second possession of the fourth quarter through the passing of quarterback Parker Morin. St. Onge finished the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Leavitt blocked the extra point and led 28-13 with 8:51 remaining.

“Parker is really good back there at quarterback and they have a good core of receivers around him,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “They were pretty comfortable in the 2-minute drill, and they were able to get some protection and make some throws. I thought Anderson, he had a nice game running the ball and the screen game.”

Leavitt played for the onside kick but Cony’s Matthew Boston booted it down the field. The Hornets waited for the ball to roll out of bounds, but a Rams player recovered it at the Leavitt 20-yard line.

“We were trying kick over and pin it over there and use our three timeouts and get the ball back,” Lippert said. “Our first guy didn’t recover it, either, but a little confusion by a Leavitt guy and a Cony guy. But thankfully our second guy recovered it.”

Five plays later, Morin called his own number for a QB keeper and found the end zone 8:14 to play. The Rams tried a two-point conversion which included a lateral that ended up on a ground. Cony picked it up but the Hornets knocked down the ensuing throw at the goal line.

Leavitt punted on their next possession after running the ball for six straight plays.

Cony took over at its own 11 and marched downfield on a 16-play drive that was capped by a St. Onge 6-yard score with 1:13 remaining.

“They changed the defense and got a little soft and went to a 3-1 box,” Lippert said of Leavitt in the fourth quarter. “Our kids made plays in the air, we had a few screens and runs, hit a few deep balls.”

Cony tried an onside kick but was called for illegal touching and the Hornets took over at their own 46-yard line. A Reny 20-yard run sealed the game for Leavitt.

“We are a little shot on tailbacks with (Randan) Hutchinson out,” Hathaway said. “We wanted Keegan to the run the ball from both spots tonight.”

LEAVITT FINDS FORM EARLY

The Hornets have been held to six total points in their two losses this season, to Winthrop (30-0) and Deering (35-6). On Saturday, They scored the 21 quick points in the first half.

After Leavitt recovered a fumble at Cony’s 27-yard line on the Rams’ first drive, Poulin led the Hornets to a scoring drive that ended when Mason Henderson punched the ball in from the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal with 38 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

Poulin found Henderson on the Cony sideline for a 36-yard TD pass that put Leavitt up 14-0 with 8:46 left in the second.

The Hornets defense force Cony it its second second straight four-and-out, then Henderson caught a 42-yard pass that put the ball at the Rams’ 2-yard line.

“Me and Brock, I love that kid,” Henderson said. “He’s a great kid and has a good arm. We have a route combo and we saw the coverage all game, and we kind of look at each other and we know no matter what that ball is coming up in the air and I have to go make a play.”

A holding penalty on the next play moved the ball back to the 12, but two plays later, Henderson scored on a jet sweep and Leavitt’s lead was up to 21-0 with 7:07 to play in the first half.

A targeting penalty on the first play of Cony’s next possession sparked the Rams. Later in the drive, Morin found Ethan Demons for a 40-yard gain to Leavitt’s 8-yard line. Two plays later, the duo linked up again for a short touchdown pass with 5:35 remaining before halftime to cut the deficit to 21-7.

The Rams recovered a fumble and started to march downfield again before the half ended, but Morin threw an interception to Henderson at Leavitt’s 7-yard line with 1:09 to play.