PRAIRIE CITY – Adrian broke one of coach Paul Shenk’s cardinal rules last week.

However, the Antelope coach can’t stay upset too long. It helped his team to a 42-40 victory over Prairie City.

Adrian trailed 40-34 and had the ball on its own 14-yard line with less then two minutes remaining in the game. On the first play of the drive, Adrian’s Kyle Osborn broke to the visiting sideline and picked up 36 yards, but the play didn’t end there.

Adrian’s George Ellsworth called for the ball and Osborn lateraled it to him as he fell out of bounds, catching the Prairie City defense off guard. Ellsworth went on to carry the ball another 50 yards into the end zone and tie the game 40-40.

Osborn pushed his way into the end zone for the two-point conversion to give the Antelopes a 42-40 lead seconds later.

“That’s not something we do,” Shenk said. “You can turn the ball over that way. It’s something I preach against. I’m sure the kids will bring it up at practice on Monday, but it’s still not something we’ll be doing.”

Prairie City had one shot at a drive following Adrian’s 86-yard touchdown. The Panthers went nowhere on their first two plays of the drive, but got some help from Adrian.

A pass interference call gave Prairie City a first down and put the ball on the 38-yard line with 30 seconds to play. Dylan Hendriksen aired the ball out with pressure coming on first down, but was picked off by Adrian’s Daniel Lode.

Ellsworth took a knee and allowed the clock to run out and end the game.

“The kids played hard all the way,” Prairie City coach Scott Hoberg said. “We played a good game, but came up a little short. I don’t think you can look at one play and say it cost us the game. There were big plays for both teams throughout the game. Adrian was a tough team. I’m just proud of my team today.”

Although Adrian came up big at the end of the game and scored 14 points in the final four minutes of the game, Prairie City controlled most of the game. The Panthers put 14 points on the board before the Antelopes even threatened.

The game’s numbers speak for themselves. Prairie City ran 75 offensive plays during the game compared with 40 for Adrian. The Panthers had 455 total yards while the Antelopes had 415, and 170 of Adrian’s yards came on their final two drives in the final four minutes of the game.

Prairie City’s Colton Schulze was back in top form in the game and scored both of the early touchdowns. He ran 73 yards for the first touchdown. Schulze ended the day with 210 yards on 30 carries.

Brandon Crisler carried the ball for 60-yards on 23 attempts.

Hoberg said teams have begun to key on Crisler’s running game.

“They were taking away the inside from Brandon so that opened up the outside for us,” Hoberg said. “Teams are starting to think more about Brandon at fullback and giving us the outside so we have to take advantage of that.”

The Panthers will travel to Crane to play their first away game in three weeks. The game is at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3. Crane is 5-0 and has outscored opponents by an average of 55-10 this season.