CEDARVILLE — Playing catch-up most of the night didn’t quite work out for the Rapid River Rockets here Friday as they dropped a 32-20 eight-player football decision to the Cedarville Trojans.

The Rockets did take a 20-18 lead on a 45-yard interception return by Ishmael Hernandez late in the third quarter of this Great Lakes Eight East Division contest.

Cedarville, however, secured the decision by scoring twice in the fourth.

Rapid River trailed 18-8 at halftime before a 42-yard interception return by Griffin Flath trimmed its deficit to 18-14 with eight minutes, 27 seconds left in the third.

“We had some momentum in the third quarter, but turnovers and penalties hurt us,” said Rockets’ coach Steve Ostrenga. “I thought our team played very hard. We told the kids if we play like that we’ll be all right.”

The Trojans, aided by a fumble recovery, took a 6-0 lead with 6:30 left in the opening frame.

Rapid River went up 8-6 on Bryce Lundquist’s 49-yard pass to Ben Lenaker late in the first.

Cedarville, however, regained the lead with 7:15 remaining in the second.

Hernandez led the Rockets in rushing with 72 yards on 17 carries. Flath added 42 in nine attempt. Lundquist was 6-of-20 passing for 97.

“Bryce had some pressure, but we also had some dropped passes,” said Ostrenga. “The turnovers we had stopped drives. We just got to finish doing the little things and we’re close.”

Defensively, Flath and Hernandez had interceptions and Lenaker recovered a fumble. Flath was in on 12 tackles. Wyatt Smith and Parker Dausey were also in on multiple tackles.

The Rockets (2-1 overall and East) travel to Newberry Thursday.