Players from both Saline and Belleville scramble for the football after Belleville quarterback Brendon Temple, bottom right, fumbled the ball during the first quarter of Friday night's season-opening game at Saline High School. Saline recovered the fumble. (Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com)

The offense had done just enough to lay the foundation, but when it came right down to it, the Saline High School defense had to finish the deal. Just when it appeared Belleville had proven it was capable of stringing together enough of a ground attack to keep things interesting, the Hornets registered back-to-back sacks in the waning moments of the fourth quarter to hold off the Tigers, 17-14, in a season-opening win Friday night.

The performance wasn't nearly as polished as Saline coach Mike Glennie would have liked, but it sufficed. "(Belleville) were bringing the heat all night long," Glennie said. "I felt like the kids responded pretty well. We knew Belleville was a very good football team and I told the kids at the end, they responded to trying to get punched in the mouth."

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Saline (1-0) was forced to hold on after producing all its offense in the second quarter. Nick Ostrander's 12-yard touchdown catch with 41.5 seconds remaining in the first half proved to be the difference, creating just enough space between the Hornets and Belleville, which did most of its damage in the second half. Junior running back Justin Barnes sparked Saline's offense, rushing for 117 yards on 20 carries -- the majority which came in the first half. Quarterback Trey Heren also threw for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Despite running only 12 offensive plays before the half, Belleville dwindled what was a 10-point deficit down to three points midway through the third quarter. Jaques Reeves reeled in a 7-yard touchdown catch with 3:28 remaining, keeping the Tigers well within striking distance. Reeves also produced the Tigers' other touchdown, dashing 99 yards on a kickoff return -- after Heren capped a short Saline scoring drive with a 1-yard plunge -- tying the game at 7-7.

But when Saline found difficulty finishing off drives in the second half, Belleville (0-1) kept chipping away. The Tigers put themselves in a position to win, taking possession with 7:18 remaining. Belleville reached midfield before a critical holding penalty and two sacks left the Tigers facing fourth-and-18 with just more than two minutes remaining. Quarterback Brendon Temple tried to find a receiver downfield, but was forced to take off running, covering only 11 yards, allowing Saline to run out the clock. "We really preached to the kids that we needed to be a second-half team," Belleville coach Matt Davenport said. "But penalties killed us. We're not that good on offense yet to have penalties, but our kids played hard." Belleville had nine penalties in the loss, including the holding penalty that played a part in stalling the potential game-winning drive. Although Saline's offense didn't produce any points after the half, the importance of finishing off scoring chances came shining through a week before the Hornets open Southeastern Conference play at home against Adrian. With Week 1 under their belt, the Hornets expect to extract the positives out of Friday night's opener and keep moving forward. "This is really going to fire us up for next week," Barnes said. "We needed this one just to get us started." Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by email at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.