MARYVILLE, Mo. — Maryville’s coaches finally decided to pull some starters with about 4 minutes left Friday night against Hickman Mills.

Head coach Chris Holt thought he could finally breathe easily with time ticking away and a 15-point lead. Hickman Mills just kept going but didn’t have enough.

Maryville held on for a 34-25 win despite two turnovers and a late screen-pass touchdown for Hickman Mills.

“It just seemed like every time we did something and we thought we’d get a breather, then we’d give something up,” Holt said.

Maryville (1-0), ranked No. 3 in Class 2 and receiving five first-place votes, escaped the season opener but not without a scare from a solid Class 4 program.

Hickman Mills scored a late first-half touchdown but missed the extra point and trailed just 20-19 at the break. But Maryville’s ground game and defense took over from there.

The Spoofhounds ran for 152 yards in the second half, and Adam Mattson’s second touchdown run 3 1/2 minutes into the second half gave them the lead for good.

Up 26-19, junior tight end Adam Thompson hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to provide a comfortable margin for the first time. Mattson’s 2-point run made it 34-19.

“We felt a lot better when we got up by two touchdowns,” said senior running back John Farmer, who normally serves as the Hounds’ second option but ran for a team-best 155 yards.

“We knew we needed to win this game to get our season started. We just had to keep going, keep scoring and keep trying.”

But Hickman Mills running back Davine Porter hauled in a screen pass and raced 48 yards for a score with 2:53 remaining. The lead could’ve been cut to one score, but Porter missed the extra point.

Maryville recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.

The Spoofhounds had a chance to put away the Cougars early, but Hickman Mills came back from three deficits during a back-and-forth first half.

Hickman Mills went three-and-out on the opening possession and was forced to punt. The long snap went between Porter’s legs, and Maryville recovered at the Cougars’ 21.

Holt told first-time starting quarterback Joe Jasinski to run “gold 41 and score right here” on the Spoofhounds first play. Mattson did just that, diving over the goal line on a pitch left for a 6-0 lead.

Hickman Mills (0-1) answered with a drive into Maryville territory but eventually settled on a punt from the 46. On the kick, John Schreck slipped in his backpedal, failed to field it but reached down and touched it.

Charles Jackson recovered for Hickman Mills at Maryville’s 5. Porter scored on the next play, and the extra point gave Hickman Mills a 7-6 lead.

“A play like that, if it goes the other way, I’ve lost the whole season,” Hickman Mills coach Brett Grable said of his team’s response to the bad snap on the first punt attempt.

“But they bounced back from it, and they didn’t give up. That’s what you want; that’s what you want from a football team.”

Maryville took another lead at 12-7 after Farmer scored on a 5-yard run midway through the second, capping a 10-play, 55-yard drive. Hickman Mills answered again on the next play with Porter going 77 yards virtually untouched on the very next play.

Maryville drove again with Jasinski completing his first two passes on a 59-yard drive that culminated with his 1-yard touchdown sneak. Hickman Mills answered again just before half after Jasinski was blindsided and fumbled in his own territory.

Hickman Mills quarterback Jerrin Walton completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Williams, who dove, reaching out of bounds on the right edge of the end zone to haul it in.

But the failed kick kept Hickman Mills out of a tie, and Maryville’s 310 rushing yards eventually proved to be too much.

“I thought there was maybe an opportunity there where we could’ve really got it going early,” Holt said. “But all and all, besides a couple of mistakes, I thought we played a pretty solid four-quarter football game.”