In the end, time ran out on the Willow Canyon Wildcats.

Willow Canyon suffered its first defeat of the season Friday night after a big rally attempt in the second half. Ironwood Ridge jumped out to a 19-0 lead, then held on for a 19-14 win.

The Wildcats (2-1) had a great attempt to win the game late in the fourth quarter, but the Knighthawks held Willow Canyon on downs with a little more than a minute to go.

“We made adjustments and executed better in the second half,” Willow Canyon coach Michael Hudnutt said. “All told, the kids played hard.”

Ironwood Ridge (1-2) was looking for its first victory after successive losses to Goldwater and Pinnacle to open the season. The Knighthawks took a 7-0 lead after a scoreless first quarter when a roughing the kicker call on a punt extended a drive.

The Knighthawks then added to their lead on the next possession when a short punt set them up in good field position. The point-extra attempt failed to leave the score at 13-0.

Right before halftime, Ironwood Ridge extended the lead to 16-0 with a field goal.

Instead of packing it in at halftime, however, Willow Canyon started to gain momentum in the second half.

Ironwood Ridge took the opening kickoff and drove the length of the field in almost seven minutes. But instead of putting a touchdown on the board to put the game away, Willow Canyon held it to a field goal to keep the game at 19-0 and still within striking distance.

The Wildcats then made a game of it when quarterback Trey Clarida found wide receiver Chris Robinson for a 56-yard touchdown bomb with a little less than three minutes left in the quarter.

Clarida ran in the 2-point conversion to make the score at 19-8.

Ironwood Ridge fumbled on its next possession to fully move momentum onto the Wildcats’ side. As the fourth quarter began, running back B.J. Scott did his best Marcus Allen impersonation.

Despite being born well after Allen made his miraculous run in Super Bowl XVIII when he reversed field for a 74-yard touchdown run, Scott pulled an Allen in reverse. After nearly being stopped for a loss on a run to the right, Scott reversed field to the left, cut up the middle, then sprinted toward the left corner of the end zone for a 16-yard score.

The Wildcats missed the 2-point conversion but trailed only 19-14 with half of a quarter left.

Hudnutt then called for an onside kick, which the Wildcats’ recovered. But on fourth down, they couldn’t convert in Ironwood Ridge territory and seven minutes left.

But Willow Canyon got the ball back when a personal foul call killed a drive and forced a punt. The Wildcats got the ball back at their 20 with three minutes left but no timeouts.

Aided by a pass interference penalty, the Wildcats were able to move the ball up to the 40. But on fourth-and-5 with a little more than a minute to go, Ironwood Ridge sacked Clarida to end the game.