The Hartland High School football team lost 20-13 Friday to Howell in a back-and-forth game that was delayed nearly an hour because of severe weather.

After falling behind 12-0 in the first half, the Eagles battled back to take a 13-12 after a Travis Spears 6-yard run to open the fourth quarter. But Howell immediately answered with a three-play, 65-yard drive that was capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass caught by junior Pete Cender.

"That's a big momentum shift," said Hartland head coach Marcus Dukes. "You get ahead and to give one up coming right back, it's tough to overcome that. When you get up, you have to buckle down and hold onto the lead like that and we just we're able to do that tonight."

Howell's defense was able to stall Hartland's final three drives, including forcing the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs on its final two possessions. Hartland's last best chance to score ended when a 30-yard pass attempt over the middle fell incomplete only a few yards from the end zone on a fourth-and-15 from the 32 with about three-and-half minutes to play.

Spears, who also scored Hartland's other touchdown on a 34-yard run midway through the second quarter, said the Howell consistently won the battle along the offensive and defensive lines all game. He also said Eagles could have been more ready to play.

"We just didn't come to play today," Spears said. "We came out weak, and then after the rain delay, we thought we were going to come back strong … but we just were getting overpowered really. The ball was wet so some of our receivers couldn't catch it. … They just beat us."

Hartland fell behind early after senior Jonathan Melanson scored on a 17-yard touchdown with 9:46 in the first quarter on the game's opening drive. The score stayed 6-0 after the Highlanders didn't notch the PAT.

Howell scored again early in the second quarter when senior quarterback Greg Cauley scampered 10 yards for a touchdown. The score was 12-0 after the Highlanders missed a two-point conversion attempt.

Not long after Spears' score to cut the lead to 12-7, lightning postponed play at 4:31 in the second quarter. The heavy rains that followed swamped the field and delayed play for close to an hour.

Dukes said the changing conditions weren't a critical factor in the game.

"Sure the field was slick and there was puddles, but you have to play through that," Dukes said. "We played in it, they played in it. It was the same for both sides."

With the loss — the first divisional game of the season — Hartland is now 1-2 on the year. The Eagles next plays 7 p.m. Sept. 16 at Milford. Howell, now 2-1, hosts Pinckney.

Dukes said the team needs to cut down on mistakes to do better next week.

"We got to get better," he said. "It's going back to fundamentals and doing the stuff we do on a daily basis and just being better at what we do."