What visiting Christiansburg survived in the first quarter Friday night led to its demise in the fourth.

Trailing by eight in the final minute, the Demons' Sid Brown caught a pass at the Hidden Valley 15 and carried it all the way to the 1.

That's where he fumbled the football, which rolled out of the end zone, preserving a 35-27 win for the Titans at Bogle Stadium.

The play ended an contest where the most important stat was turnover margin -- Hidden Valley had a 6-1 advantage.

"It was just a battle," Titans coach J.R. Edwards said. "You sit back after games and try to pick a turning point, but in this one it was all night long back and forth."

Hidden Valley (4-3, 1-1 River Ridge District) failed to capitalize on three Christiansburg turnovers on the Demons' first three drives -- two fumbles and an interception.

"Just terrible," Christiansburg coach Tim Cromer said. "The game was full of turnovers and big plays. We were fortunate in the first quarter, but it caught up with us in the second half."

On the second play of the second quarter, Christiansburg got an 81-yard TD pass from Wes Bond to Patrick Asconi. Three drives later the Demons added a 41-yard field goal from Brad Cox before Hidden Valley answered with the first of two touchdown catches by Matt Aiken, who finished with five catches for 166 yards.

Aiken's first TD was for 70 yards after Alan Castro rolled to his right and found Aiken, who weaved down the field.

The Demons (4-3, 0-2) answered with Bond hitting Scott Hampton for an 11-yard touchdown pass to cap off a seven-play drive with 1:37 remaining in the first half.

That was the turning point for Hidden Valley, as the Titans drove to the Demons' 7-yard line behind three receptions for 62 yards by Aiken.

Castro spiked the ball on the seven with 1 second left, and the Titans' field-goal team took the field.

But Chris Reichel took the snap and ran to the right corner of the end zone to cut the Demons' halftime lead to 17-14.

"It was a lot more pressure running it than kicking it," Reichel said. "But I'll take six points instead of three any day."

"It was critical," Edwards said. "It not only put us within three; it gave us a gasp of life."

That gasp of life propelled the Titans to two third-quarter scores to a 28-20 lead heading into the fourth quarter. David Turner picked up 172 of his 223 yards rushing in the second half.

Christiansburg then fumbled the first play of the fourth quarter to set up Castro and Aiken's second touchdown, a 34-yard touchdown pass.

But Bond quickly hit Brown for a 35-yard touchdown eight plays later to get the Demons in striking distance.

The Demons then drove inside the Titans' 30-yard line on their last two drives ending with turnovers.

Christiansburg 0 17 3 7--27

Hidden Valley 0 14 14 7--35

C -- Asconi 81 pass from Bond (Cox kick)

C -- FG Cox 41

HV -- Aiken 70 pass from Castro (Reichel kick)

C -- Hampton 11 pass from Bond (Cox kick)

HV -- Reichel 7 run (Reichel kick)

HV -- Horton 11 pass from Castro (Reichel kick)

C -- FG Cox 34

HV -- Turner 55 run (Reichel kick)

HV -- Aiken 34 pass from Castro (Reichel kick)

C -- Brown 35 pass from Bond (Cox kick)

CH HV

First downs 15 19

Yards rushing 104 238

Passes C-A-I 12-25-2 10-20-1

Yards passing 327 246

Penalties-yards 4-35 3-25

Fumbles-lost 6-5 4-0

Punts-average 2-35.5 5-34

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Christiansburg, Johnson 11-63, Evans 8-30, Bond 4-14, Brown 5-7, Weller 1-0, Team 4-(minus-11). Hidden Valley, Turner 33-223, Greenway 7-34, Reichel 1-7, Kite 2-6, Aiken 1-(minus-1), Castro 4-(minus-11), Team 1-(minus-22).

PASSING -- Christiansburg, Bond 11-24-290, Cox 1-1-37. Hidden Valley, Castro 10-20-246.

RECEIVING -- Christiansburg, Brown 7-156, Asconi 2-132, Hampton 2-23, Evans 1-11, Johnson 1-5. Hidden Valley, Aiken 5-166, Coots 1-37, Greenway 1-20, Horton 1-11, Musselman 1-8, Turner 1-4.