It’s called the battle of the border when the Harrah Panthers take on the McLoud Redskins, and it lived up to its name providing a controversial nail bitter. The Panthers were dealt a second last minute defeat in as many weeks after taking a 29-28 loss to McLoud.

The Panthers came out aggressive from the jump. They pulled off an onside kick, attempted a flea flicker which led to a pass-interference call, and scored touchdowns on three out of their first four drives.

“We came over to win. We wanted to win the ball game,” said Harrah coach Phil Webb of his aggressive start to the game. “Offensively, we knew they had a good team and we couldn’t stop em. That put us in a bind.”

Yet midway through the third quarter, the Panthers had built a 28-10 lead largely on the back of all-around athlete senior Dak Stephens and a strong defense. Stephens scored Harrah’s second touchdown on the game with a 19-yd touchdown run giving the Panthers a 14-3 lead. He also scooped up a fumble on defense and returned it for a score to bolster the lead up to 28-10.

On the defensive side, the Panthers stalled the Redskins drive on Harrah’s 4-yard line on McLoud’s first drive of the game holding the Redskins to a 19-yard field goal, rendered Redskins senior quarterback Joseph Wood’s pass game ineffective for the entirety of the first half, and ended a promising scoring drive for the Redskins before halftime with two big sacks.

It looked like the Panthers would cruise to a victory until rivalry madness kicked in. It began when Harrah linebacker Eli Drew missed a chance to pick off a Wood pass. The next play turned into a 5-yard touchdown pass from Wood to Ryan Rodgers with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter. An unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt left the score 28-16. 

After a Harrah three and out, the Redskins and Wood were on the move. Wood completed two long strikes to start the drive. Then, he capped it off with an 8-yard touchdown run with 11:38 to go in the fourth quarter cutting the Harrah lead to 28-23 after the made extra point.

The game was heating up but Stephens was determined to cool it back off. The Panthers got the ball with 11:29 left and put together a seven minute drive led by guess who, Stephens. He rattled off first down run after first down run culminating on the Redskin’s 4-yard line. It was fourth and three, and Webb had a decision to make. Does he opt for the field goal to extend his lead to eight or go for the kill shot?

He elected to go for it and trusted Stephens to pick up the first down, but the senior would come up just short of the first down by inches. McLoud had the ball back down 28-23.

Wood dinked and dunked for short yardage until finally uncorking a 32-yard bomb to Rogers for the lead. McLoud went for two unsuccessfully bringing the score to 29-28 in favor of McLoud. Now, Harrah needed to put together a field goal drive to retake the victory.

Senior quarterback Zach Hamblin went to work with only 1:35 left starting on his own 25-yard line. He rattled off three straight passes to get the Panthers down to the 22-yard line of McLoud getting injured in the process. With 20 seconds left, sophomore Kostner Ingraham came in and completed his only pass for 11 yards to the McLoud 12-yard line.

Four seconds remaining, it would all come down to the boot of the field goal kicker who happens to be Dak Stephens. Stephens nailed an improbable 27-yard field goal for the win after being pummeled by the McLoud field goal defense.

Pandemonium erupted on the Harrah sideline until the refs stopped the Harrah party. An encroachment penalty blew the play dead. Stephens would need to re-kick but now five yards closer. On the second attempt, Stephens missed the field goal and the Panthers fell 29-28 in a controversial finish for the ages.

“No excuse. They won. We lost,” said Webb of the crazy ending. “We’ll regroup. That was tough, but we’ll regroup on Monday and get focused for our first round opponent.”