Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Boardman’s Ryan Smith (11) catches a pass in the flat in and turns upfield as Warren G. Harding’s Elijah Phillips goes for the tackle during the first quarter of Friday’s game in Warren.

WARREN — Points were at a premium when the Warren G. Harding Raiders hosted Boardman on Friday. When the game came to an end, the Spartans stood victorious 14-10.

“We’re defensive guys on this coaching staff,” Boardman coach D.J. Dota said. “I pride myself on defense. We’ve been working at it. The guys have been getting better every week. We can’t control anything but ourselves, and getting better every week. I’m proud of our guys in all aspects of the game. But, especially on defense with the improvements they’ve made over the last four or five weeks.”

The defenses prevailed as the game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter. In fact, just one field goal accounted for all of the points in the first half.

Harding senior quarterback Ameire Cobb hooked up with fellow senior Julius Ferrell, down the sideline for a first down, which set up junior Jaron Edmonds for a 34-yard field goal attempt.

Edmonds drilled the kick through the uprights for a 3-0 Harding lead. Then, he kicked the ball off to Boardman and the Spartans had a huge return. Unfortunately, for Boardman, the kick return was called back because of a penalty.

The blocking in the back penalty pushed the Spartans all the way back to their own 15-yard line before each team exchanged multiple punts.

Then Harding junior Matt Richardson returned a Boardman punt into Spartan territory. Cobb launched a pass deep down the field to Ferrell. The ball fell incomplete, but the Raiders picked up 15 yards on a pass interference penalty.

However, the Raiders ran out of time, as the first half came to a close and Harding (3-3) took a 3-0 advantage into halftime.

Boardman received the kickoff to start the third quarter, but the Harding defense forced a three-and-out and another punt.

The Raiders were on the move after a handoff to sophomore Makhai Brogden. However, Cobb was intercepted by junior middle linebacker Frankie Butto.

He didn’t look like he’d be able to stay on his feet, but he returned the interception all the way to Harding’s 38-yard line.

Senior quarterback Vincent Butto helped advance the Spartans toward the end zone before Boardman punched it in on the ground for a 7-3 lead.

The Raiders answered as soon as they got the ball back. Freshman Satavian Hill showed off his speed as he flew away from the Boardman defenders for a 42-yard touchdown run. Harding was up 10-7 heading to the fourth quarter.

“We were ready for that jet game,” Dota said. “That’s what they did to us last year. They came out in one-back, running jet. We need to tackle the ball at the point of attack and not give up big plays. They didn’t run it at all in the first half. But, we gave up a touchdown when they ran it in the third quarter.”

Boardman went back on top when senior running back Ryan Smith powered through the line on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. The Spartans led 14-10 with 4:20 left in regulation.

“Our guys responded,” Dota said. “Offensively, our guys helped each other. It’s complimentary football. We were able to hold on to the ball when it mattered, and we got enough points to win the game.”

Boardman forced the Raiders to punt, and Edmonds came up with what may have been the play of the game. The ball was snapped over Edmonds’ head into the back of the end zone.

Edmonds raced back, and not only prevented the ball from going out of the end zone for a safety, or allowing multiple Boardman players to pick it up for a touchdown, he picked it up and got a 48-yard punt off to midfield.

Harding had two timeouts left, but they couldn’t prevent the Spartans from picking up a first down and running out the clock for the victory.