Columbus loses early lead, game to Huntsville

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Columbus scored the first two goals of the game, but the Cottonmouths couldn't hold the lead and lost 6-4 to Huntsville on Friday night.

The loss dropped the Snakes to 0-4-3 for the season. They are tied for eighth with Louisiana in the nine-team SPHL. Both teams have three points. Both are three points behind Macon, which hosts Columbus on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Patrick McCadden scored just 2:39 into the game to give the Snakes a 1-0 lead. Ben O'Quinn and Craig Simchuk picked up the assists.

O'Quinn scored at 11:34 to give the Snakes a 2-0 lead. Kyle Shapiro and Rusty Hafner had the assists.

Huntsville tied the game later in the first period with goals from John Lidgett (14:36) and Jeremy Beirnes (16:40).

Steve Mele scored 15 seconds into the second period to give the Havoc the lead. Chris Rial tied it for the Snakas at 3:28 with an assist from Louis Belisle.

But Huntsville's Justin Tateson scored 17 seconds later as the Havoc took the lead for good. Nolan Kaiser added a goal at 10:18 as Huntsville took a 5-3 lead after two periods.

Will Aide scored at 2:09 of the final period to give the Havoc a 6-3 lead. Simchuk scored at 9:37 for the Snakes. Rusty Hafner and Patrick McCadden had the assists.

Columbus' Brandon Jaeger stopped 24 of 30 shots.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Columbus loses early lead, game to Huntsville ."