Happy Valley was unable to answer late on Friday.

The Warriors were unable to rally late in a battle of state-ranked teams as the HV fell 36-29 to Unicoi County in Erwin on Friday night.

Happy Valley opened the scoring in the first quarter as Lane Parker broke free for a 61-yard touchdown. After Blaze Rice countered for Unicoi on a seven-yard run, Parker found Nalique Anderson for a 52-yard touchdown to give HV a 14-7 lead after a quarter of play.

The Blue Devils scored the first 10 points of the quarter to take a 16-14 lead. However, Parker ended the half with a three-yard score as the Warriors held a 21-16 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Rice scored a touchdown in the third and another in the fourth as the Blue Devils pushed the lead out to 36-21.

Happy Valley, however, didn’t go quietly.

With six minutes left to play, Parker scored on a short run and added the two-point conversion as HV closed the gap.

The Warrior defense forced a stop on the next Unicoi drive, but HV was unable to get a drive going.

Parker finished with 19 carries for 175 yards for the Warriors, while Anderson had 10 carries for 79 yards,

Gunner Peterson was 8-of-12 for 211 yards and two touchdowns for Unicoi, while Rice had 157 rushing yards.