<I>The Eagle/Jack H. Smith</I><BR>Prairie City quarterback Brady Doty looks for an open man in action last week. Prairie City defeated Mitchell/Spray 36-20. This week Prairie City travels to play Pine Eagle.

PRAIRIE CITY – Trailing Mitchell/Spray 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, Prairie City football coach Scott Hoberg gathered his team together. His words were simple – come together as a team and battle, or fall apart.

The Panthers (2-0) chose to fight and walked away with an impressive 36-20 comeback win Friday, Sept. 18 in Prairie City.

“The guys did well,” Hoberg said. “They never stopped battling.”

It was a tale of two-halves as Prairie City had just 105 yards in the first half compared to 215 for Mitchell/Spray.

At the break, Hoberg said his team talked about the importance of the first six-minutes of the second half.

Hoberg said it was apparent his team was in better condition and could wear them down. Hoberg told his team Mitchell/Spray only had six minutes left in them.

“We had a great third quarter, and took it from there,” Hoberg said.

Prairie City had 235 yards in the final two quarters compared to only 50 for the visiting Eagles.

Hoberg emphasized it was a team effort and every player helped out in the win.

It was also a successful week for the Panther junior varsity squad as they were able to upend Adrian 28-26.

“It was an important win for our younger players,” Hoberg said.

This week Prairie City will travel to play Pine Eagle.

According to Hoberg his team has not been successful recently against the Spartan’s wing offense.

This week he said his team will be working on trying to stop counter runs out of the wing formation.

The game is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25 at 2 p.m.