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Polk County fell to Blue Ridge on Friday, who rallied twice in the second half to take a 42-36 victory over the Wolverines and spoil Polk’s home opener in G.M. Tennant Stadium.

Polk County (1-2) did many things right, piling up almost 400 yards of total offense and bouncing back with a go-ahead touchdown once Blue Ridge (2-0) roared back from a 17-point halftime deficit.

But much like last week’s loss at Tuscola, mistakes and time of possession spoiled Polk’s hopes for a comeback. The Wolverines made a dramatic stop of Blue Ridge on a fourth-and-2 at the Polk 5 with 3:03 remaining and began to drive. Facing fourth-and-3 at midfield, Polk quarterback Gunnar Alm teamed with Nolan Simpson on a pass that would have moved the Wolverines inside the Blue Ridge 40.

But the Wolverines were flagged for an illegal shift, negating that play, then flagged again for illegal motion. Alm’s scramble on the resulting fourth-and-13 came up four yards short.

“I am proud of the way we responded. I’m proud of the way we started out and came to play,” said Polk County head coach Dustin Fry. “In the third and fourth quarter, we’ve got to learn to finish better.

“We were worried about them pushing on us, and they came out and pushed on us in the second half. Our guys showed a lot of fight, though.”

Polk County stormed to a 30-13 halftime lead, and though the Tigers scored a quick touchdown to open the third period, the Wolverines began confidently driving again on their ensuing possession.

And then everything changed.

Scrambling on a play near midfield, Alm lofted a pass down the middle of the field to Aaron Dickey, who came back to the ball and made a leaping catch. As his feet came down, Dickey was hit from behind, the ball knocked free and to Blue Ridge’s Max Gonzalez, who scooped it up and raced to the Polk 15. The play was ruled a completed pass, the fumble stood and Tiger quarterback Gavin Forrester scored on the next play to cut Polk’s lead to 30-27.

A three-and-out returned the ball to Blue Ridge, and the Tigers fashioned a 10-play, 57-yard drive, scoring on Forrester’s 8-yard run with 2:04 left in the third to take their first lead of the night.

Undeterred, Polk immediately responded, Donte Tingling’s 30-yard run preceding Alm’s 32-yard touchdown strike to Nolan Simpson, the junior shrugging off a would-be tackler and plowing into the end zone. Polk’s 2-point try failed, but the Wolverines still led again at 36-34 with 1:25 left in the third.

Blue Ridge marched back to take the lead on Forrester’s fourth touchdown of the night, a 20-yard sprint. Following another Polk three-and-out, Blue Ridge kept the ball for more than half the quarter.

Polk opened the game with 12-play, 65-yard scoring march, capped by a 4-yard Loreynzo Sanchez run, and took an early 8-0 lead. Blue Ridge answered with a quick four-play drive, but failed on its 2-point try and trailed 8-6 with 5:41 left in the opening period.

Back came the Wolverines with another long drive, this one lasting 11 plays and covering 67 yards, ending with a Tingling 5-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Tingling added the 2-point try to make it 16-6.

Forrester sprinted 32 yards for his first score on the Tigers’ next possession, but the rest of the period belonged to Polk. A 12-play, 80-yard drive ended with Alm’s 15-yard touchdown toss to Dickey, who outleaped a defender to haul down the pass in the rear of the end zone. Dickey then intercepted a Forrester pass to set up Alm’s 10-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds left in the half, putting Polk up 30-13.

The second half wouldn’t be as kind to Polk, leaving the Wolverines again with the tale of one that got away.

“I’m disappointed with some effort on some plays and some guys giving up on some plays,” Fry said. “But it’s one of those things where we’ve got to find a way to bounce back from it.”