In past years when Isabella would fall behind, they might fade away, but that wasn’t the case Friday night.

The Mustangs instead rose to the challenge and rolled off 14 unanswered points and shut down the high-powered Fultondale attack to win 20-10.

Isabella coach Lanny Jones said his team has a different mentality in responding to adversity.

“The team just didn’t want to lose,” he said. “That’s different from previous years.”

To open the game, Isabella’s Brandon Green recovered an onside kick for the opening kickoff. While that play didn’t lead to an offensive score, it put the Wildcats deep in their own territory.

On their second play, Fultondale fumbled the ball into the end zone, which was recovered by Isabella’s Zac Ellison to give the Mustangs a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

That lead lasted the opening possession of the second half. Fultondale’s Jacob Estes recovered an onside kick for the second half kickoff. Jonathan Dunn capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown. Dezmond Clopton scored the two-point conversion to put them up 8-6.

However, Isabella didn’t back down. They put together an 11-play drive and scored on Allen Edwards’ 13-yard pass to Kelsey Gardner on fourth-down-and-8 giving the Mustangs the lead 12-8.

Taking advantage of a fumble recovery by Brandon Veazey, Isabella added some much-needed insurance on Norman Craig’s 41-yard end-around play. Edwards threw to Veazey for the two-point conversion making it 20-8.

Fultondale came right back with a 41-yard pass from Clopton to Carceial Mixon down to the 1-yard line, but they couldn’t punch it in. Blake Lawley recovered yet another Wildcat fumble to end the threat.

The Mustangs couldn’t get out of the hole. Fultondale’s Christian McCullough stopped Brian Donovan in the end zone for the safety, making the final score 20-10.

Fultondale had one last chance to make it interesting, but Clopton’s fourth down pass fell incomplete.

Donovan led the Mustang rushing attack with 111 yards on 15 carries and also had three receptions for 32 yards. Edwards had 55 yards on 6-of-14 passing.

Craig led Fultondale with 129 yards rushing on 13 carries.