The No. 3-ranked Charles Henderson Trojans struggled to move the ball effectively on offense and lost to the Valley Rams on Friday night, 31-14.

Quarterback Brent Osborne Rams and running back Tim’Vontae Walker led the Rams offense.

“They out hit us and they really just outplayed us,” Trojan coach Hugh Fountain said.

Valley won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Trojans had a chance to flex their offensive muscles early, but an interception on the first play from scrimmage squelched hopes of early Trojan momentum.

“We had two critical turnovers, and they made plays when they needed to have them,” Fountain said.

Valley didn’t make a play they needed with the first turnover, but the rest of the game was full of Rams momentum. The Rams came out offensively and gave the Trojans life by throwing an interception to K.D. Edenfield.

The Trojans wound up punting the ball away and Valley capitalized with their first scoring drive.

The Rams drove the ball 73 yards in five plays to go up 7-0 with 7:52 remaining in the first quarter. The Rams forced Henderson to three plays and out on their next possession, and they were back in business.

“We just made to many mistakes in the first half,” Fountain said.

The Rams drove 45 yards in nine plays to punch in another touchdown, pushing their lead to 14-0 with 10:44 remaining in the second quarter.

The Trojans were in unfamiliar territory trailing by two touchdowns. The last time the Trojans trailed by two touchdowns and came back to win was against Vigor in the playoffs last season.

However, the Trojans responded on their next possession and got into the ball game.

The drive started with a kick return from Corey Dennis that set the Trojans up in Valley territory on the 45 yard line. Billy Neal ripped a 15-yard run for the Trojans down to the 30 yard line, and the Trojans ran nine plays inside the 30-yard line that ended with a touchdown on fourth down.

LeQuintez Reynolds punched in the four-yard touchdown, and the Trojans trailed by just a touchdown with 6:41 left in the first half.

Valley answered with another touchdown with 30 seconds left in the half.

Osborne hit his target for a 55-yard touchdown, and stacked the momentum in the Rams corner.

The Trojans came out in the second half and forced the Rams to punt for the first time in the game on their opening drive.

Charles Henderson got on the board again in the third quarter when they compiled a 60-yard touchdown drive that ended with a seven-yard run from Reynolds.

The Rams managed a field goal drive with 8:54 left in the fourth quarter to go up 24-14, and the teams traded punts the rest of the stretch.

“We just got outplayed,” Fountain said. “They were more physical than we were all night.”

Valley’s Walker tore another big run 34 yards for the final score of the game with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter, putting the Rams up 31-14.

“We’re playing a very physical team in Theodore next week,” Fountain said. “We’ll find out if we have gotten any better after this loss.”

The Trojans were held to just 204 total yards of offense on the night with 67 of those yards through the passing game. The remaining 137 yards were on the ground.

The Trojans host Theodore next Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.