The Prairie City Panthers line up for the national anthem before Friday's game.

It was a competitive game of football until the end in Joseph’s 48-26 win over Prairie City in the team’s second loss of the season.

“I think we just need to do a few things better,” Prairie City head coach Nick Thompson said. “I think there are some fundamental things — blocking, tackling, snaps — there are just some things that we wish that we would have done better. Having said that, (Joseph is) a tough team. They always have been.”

Although the Panthers were able to tie up the score 13-13 in the second quarter with touchdowns by freshman Wes Voigt and sophomore Cole Teel, the Eagles were able to capitalize on missed snaps, tackles and blocks to open up a large enough lead to where the Panthers could not catch up.

Senior quarterback Jayden Winegar said the Panthers improved quite a bit from their March 5 loss to South Wasco County, where they fell 55-6.

With a never-say-die mentality, the score of 40-13 with less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Winegar connected with senior Tanner Way on two touchdown passes and an extra-point conversion to cut the deficit to 48-26.

Winegar said he would like to see the team continue to improve on their open-field tackling and work on pass defense and blocking up front on offense.

Thompson said he was proud of the Panthers in their second outing.

“My big question to them is, did you learn something, and did you have fun?” he said. “If we got those two things, then we’re moving in the right direction.”

The Panthers March 12 game against Harper Charter was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

The team is scheduled to face Echo at 1 p.m. Friday, April 2, in Prairie City.