ODENVILLE — Hayden closed out its Class 5A Region 6 schedule with a 35-21 loss at St. Clair County.

The Saints fumbled the opening kickoff catch, and Hayden’s Garrett Torbert recovered the fumble at the 35. Colton Shirley then recovered a Hayden fumble in the end zone for the touchdown to give the Cats a early 7-0 lead. St. Clair also fumbled the following kickoff, and the Cats’ Jeremy Stanfield recovered the ball at the 39.

Hayden scored on a long run by Adam Payne, but the score was taken off the board for a holding penalty. The Cats thought they had scored again on a run by Eddie Bolton, but another penalty flag nullified the score, and the Saints eventually took over at the 29.

On the second play of the hosts’ next drive, Michael Fisher hit Delmetrius Bishop for 67 yards and the score. Kylee Harrell — yes, that’s a girl kicking extra points for the Saints — hit the point after to knot the score at 7-7 with 5:02 remaining in the opening quarter.

After forcing a Hayden punt, the Saints would score on a 3-yard run by Kelvin Johnson. Harrell’s point after put St. Clair Count up 14-7 with 30 seconds left in the first period.

The defenses took over for most of the second quarter, until St. Clair’s Justin May scored from 32 yards away with 4:42 remaining in the half.

Hayden’s Josh Duncan had a nice return to open the second half, and the Cats took over at the midfield stripe. They would get as close as the 19 before a penalty killed the drive.

St. Clair County then drove the length of the field before Hayden’s Tim Curry intercepted a pass in the end zone.

After a Hayden punt, the Saints’ Fisher hit Bradley Noell from 15 yards out for a score, to give the Saints a 28-7 lead with 3:43 remaining in the third.

J.R. Thorton then put St. Clair up 35-7 with 3:20 in the third quarter, when he ran an interception back 35 yards.

Hayden scored two touchdowns in the last six minutes of the game when Josh Duncan ran 50 yards for a score, and then Levi Snider struck from three yards out with less than a minute in the game.

Wildcats coach Keith Register was ejected in the middle of the fourth quarter after the team was flagged for back-to-back unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties.

Bolton led the Cats ground game with 85 yards on 17 carries, and Josh Duncan had 82 yards on 14 carries.

Reid Trimble led the Hayden defense with 10 tackles, one for loss. Jordyn Witt added eight tackles, Austin Norton had six (two for loss) and Jeremy Stanfield logged seven.

Hayden (0-9, 0-7 region) ends the 2014 season next Thursday at Curry.