GENTRY — It looked like a quick trick-play touchdown and a solid defense would hold up for Gentry. But Charleston wore down the Pioneers and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to escape with a 14-6 victory Friday.

The Pioneers (0-2) ran a flea-flicker pass on the game’s first play and made the touchdown lead hold up through three quarters.

The Tigers (2-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, scored on a 40-yard drive with nine minutes remaining in the game to get their first lead, then added a 75-yard interception return with 3:21 left to ice the victory.

“They outplayed us a lot tonight and had us on our heels,” Charleston coach Doug Loughridge said. “Finally we wore them downin the fourth quarter.”

The Tigers also took advantage of four interceptions and a defense that held the Pioneers to only 143 yards offense.

Gentry got most of that yardage on the game’s first play. Dylan Ochs took a lateral after handing off to a running back, then found Jarod Cousins racing behind the Charleston defense for a 64-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead. Gentry also came up with its share of defensive stops.

After Seth McCann returned an Ochs interception to the Gentry 37 with eight minutes left in thefirst half, the Tigers drove inside the 10, but David Weeks was stopped after gaining 3 yards on fourthand-5 from the 9.

Charleston reached the Gentry 33 on its final possession of the first half, but a penalty and two sacks pushed them back across the 50 when the half ended.

The Pioneers also stopped Weeks on fourth down at the 10 with 1:12 left in the third quarter.

“When you get a defensive effort like that, you expect to have a chance to win and I think we did right down to the end,” Gentry coach Brian Little said.

The defense finally broke on Charleston’s first possession of the fourth quarter, which ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to McCann from Dustin Shelby. McCann kicked the extra point for a 7-6 lead.

Gentry mounted a last charge with five minutes remaining. Ochs completed three straight passes to move the Pioneers from their 39 to the Tigers’ 39. His next pass was intercepted by Zach Craig, who returned it 75 yards for a touchdown.

“We had to overcome a lot of adversity, lots of penalties, lots of stupid plays on our part, lots of lost yardage plays,” Loughridge said. “But what I’m proud of is our defense played well tonight and kept us in the ballgame until we could get the short field and score.”

Sports, Pages 12 on 09/14/2011