CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Thunderbird football team opened their 2018 season on Saturday night with a contest against the University of North Alabama, where they fell to the Lions 34-30.

"I'm proud of the guys, they fought hard and fought to the end," SUU head coach Demario Warren said. "But we've got to be better, we made a couple mistakes out there."

Chris Helbig took the first snaps at quarterback for the Thunderbirds, but a promising drive resulted in a punt. The Lions quickly responded with a field goal, taking a 3-0 lead. Neither team scored for the remainder of the opening frame.

The Thunderbirds scored their first points of the season with 11:12 to play on the clock when Manny Berz knocked home a 22-yard field goal to tie the contest up 3-3.

The following drive the Lions drove the length of the field to take a 10-3 lead.

SUU responded with a touchdown drive of their own, as Helbig tossed his first touchdown pass to Ty Rutledge from 22-yards away to tie the contest at 10-10.

UNA responded with a drive that resulted in a field goal, going back up 13-10.

With 58 seconds remaining in the opening half the Thunderbirds scored on a rush from Helbig to take a 16-13 lead. They held that lead heading into the halftime break.

At the half Rutledge had 90 yards receiving on three completions.   

The Lions opened the second half with a touchdown, as Christian Lopez found Jakobi Byrd from 39 yards out to put the Lions up on top.

The Thunderbirds responded near the end of the third frame, as Helbig found Cockett from 12 yards away. The T-Birds led 23-20 at that point.

In the fourth quarter the two teams traded touchdown drives late. The Lions scored with 4:47 to play to take the lead, but the Thunderbirds quickly responded with a touchdown run from James Felila to cap a 75-yard drive.

The Lions scored on the final drive of the game with 12 second to play, on a drive that featured late penalty calls against Southern Utah.

Helbig threw for 316 yards on 28 completions. Rutledge ended the contest with 161 yards on seven receptions. Felila had 83 yards rushing on the ground.

"The good news is it's the first game of the year," Rutledge said following the contest. "We've won two Big Sky Championships since I've been here and we didn't win the first game of the year. So we have a lot of football ahead of us. We've got a lot to improve on and a lot to learn."

The Thunderbirds will return to the field next Saturday when they head to Oregon State to take on the Beavers.

Keep tabs on the Thunderbirds by following @SUUFB on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Football page on Facebook.