PRAIRIE CITY – The Prairie City football team is a few plays short of a 4-1 league record.

The Panthers fell 30-24 to Harper Friday, Oct. 10. The game is the third they have lost either in the final minutes or after taking a large lead.

Prairie City started the streak against Mitchell/Spray. The Panthers led 20-6 at halftime, but injuries to Justin Gillihan and Colton Schulze that removed them from the game slowed the team, which lost 34-20.

The Panthers then lost to Adrian when the running back pitched the ball to the quarterback as he was falling out of bounds, setting up a touchdown to win 42-40.

Prairie City and Harper were tied 24-24 with about a minute remaining when the Panthers turned the ball over on a fumble. The Hornets took over at the 47-yard line and took the ball down the field. Harper’s Andrew Harper caught a 46-yard pass from Steen Casiano and took the ball in to put the Hornet’s up 30-24 with 36 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Panthers took a couple deep shots, but one of Brandon Crisler’s passes was picked off by Casiano, effectively ending the game. The Hornets snapped the ball and ran the final seconds off the clock.

“It’s a disappointing loss,” Prairie City coach Scott Hoberg said. “I give credit to Harper. They outplayed us and had the drive to win the football game. It’s another tough loss. We could easily be 4-1 in the conference, but we’re not. The ball hasn’t bounced that way for us. I hope we can continue to play as hard as we can through the rest of the season.”

The momentum went back and forth in the game, and each team answered as points were scored. Neither team led by more than eight points at a time.

Prairie City had difficulty taking the ball outside and relied heavily on Crisler during the game. Crisler led the team with 170 yards on 25 carries. His yardage accounted for 78 percent of the Panthers’ running game and 55 percent of their total yards.

Schulze said the Hornets cut off the outside routes, making it tough to run the ball to the wings.

“We couldn’t get the ball outside,” Schulze said. “It’s tough to lose three in a row. Our defense wasn’t playing hard enough to win the game either though.”

The Panthers are now 1-4 in league play and 1-6 overall. They face Jordan Valley at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 in Jordan Valley.