A ball-hawking defense and opportunistic offense proved to be just enough for the Taylor Ducks as they eked out a 27-25 victory over the Rudder Rangers at Merrill Green Stadium on Friday.

Injuries to their first and second-string quarterbacks forced the Rangers (2-5, 0-4 District 24-3A) to change up their offense slightly. Starting quarterback Kyle Danford played despite a foot injury, while second-string quarterback and starting running back Tre Hammond did not dress after suffering a concussion last week against Rockdale.

With Danford's mobility limited, Rudder head coach C.M. Pier mixed in some split-wing option plays to take the place of Danford's running out of the team's usual spread formation. Danford still managed 23 yards on five carries, including a pair of key first-down runs late in the game.

"I'm proud of Kyle," Pier said. "I wasn't sure how far he was going to be able to go, and we did some things to try to help him."

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Ducks' defense make key plays including a pair of touchdowns on turnovers.

Taylor (4-3, 1-2) struck first midway into the first quarter. The Rangers recovered a fumble inside the Taylor 10-yard line, but Taylor's Justin Fitzgerald intercepted a tipped pass on the next play and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. A missed extra point left the Ducks with a 6-0 lead.

The Rangers were forced to punt on the ensuing drive, but the Ranger defense came up big when Matt Fritsche picked off a Johnny Epperson pass and returned it to the Taylor 3. A quick touchdown by Domonique Robison helped give the Rangers a 7-6 lead.

The Rudder defense extended that lead in the second quarter with a safety after forcing Taylor to punt from its own 5. The snap sailed over the punter's head and out of the end zone to put Rudder ahead 9-6.

Taylor made a quarterback change following Fritsche's interception, and it paid off big leading into halftime. Backup Ricky Cobia hooked up with Mark Jackson for a 58-yard touchdown pass that put the Ducks ahead 15-9 at halftime.

Rudder got the ball to start the second half but fumbled it away on the first play from scrimmage, and Samuel Jirasek returned it 29 yards for another Taylor touchdown.

Taylor was able to strip the ball by standing up the runner and allowing multiple defenders to get to the ball at once, a strategy that led to four Rudder fumbles with two being recovered for turnovers.

"Every day in practice we go through strip drills," Pier said. "We've got to squeeze the ball, no matter how many people get in there."

Rudder outscored Taylor 16-7 from that point. Restevin Anderson, who rushed for 151 yards, scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 2:33 to play to cut Taylor's lead to 27-25.

The Rangers just missed recovering an onside kick, then almost forced Taylor to punt. Facing third-and-12 from their own 39, the Ducks converted when Epperson -- back in the game for an injured Cobia -- connected with DeMarea Kerley for 36 yards. Taylor easily ran out the clock from there.