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Panthers suffer 44-23 District 5 defeat to Falcons

Two quick touchdowns to open the second half gave the Concordia Panthers a chance, but the Riley County Falcons had an answer.
Trailing Riley County 28-3 at half, the Panthers scored twice in the first 5:34 of the second half to close the gap to 28-16.
Riley County responded with touchdowns on its next two offensive possessions to pull away to a 44-23 Class 3A District 5 victory Friday night at Harold M. Clark Stadium.
“We weren’t able to adjust some things on defense to make some stops,” Concordia coach Jordan Echer said.
Suffering a second straight loss, the Panthers are now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in district play.
Concordia will wrap up the regular season by hosting Chapman on Friday night, and will be looking to secure the number three seed in District 5 heading into the 3A playoffs.
“The message this week is, let’s have the best week of practice and let's be locked in,” Echer said.
Riley County, 5-1 overall, improves to 3-0 in the district.
Marysville, coming off a 20-0 win over Clay Center, is 3-3 overall and 2-0 in district play.
Riley County and Marysville will square off to decide the district champion.
The top four teams in the district advance to the playoffs. The top two teams host first-round games.
Chapman, which has played just two district games after having two cancelled because of COVID-19 issues, is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the district.
The winner of the Concordia-Chapman game will finish third in the district and the loser will be fourth.
“We lose and we still get in (playoffs), and we lose and we are the fourth seed,” Echer said.
Riley County, averaging nearly 45 points per game, scored on four of five offensive possessions in the first half to get out to the 28-3 lead on Concordia.
Concordia got the ball on its own 20-yard line to start the second half and needed just four plays to score.
Hunter Schroeder had a 19-yard run on a second down play.
Two plays later, senior quarterback Wyatt Trost ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run.
The extra point made it a 28-10 game just 1:35 into the third quarter.
Trost finished with 129 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. He also completed 6 of 10 passes for 70 yards and a score.
Riley County would turn the ball over two plays later on a fumble by Nic Allen.
Cav Carlgren recovered on the Falcons’ 32-yard line.
Trost finished off a six-play drive with a 2-yard scoring run with 6:26 to play in the third period.
Easton Atwood’s extra point attempt was blocked, and the Panthers trailed just 28-16.
“What we told them at halftime about the first half, and what we kept talking about between series, was we're one block away. So the second half we were able to fix that one block we were away,” Echer said.
Riley County would re-establish control of the game with a quick scoring drive.
The Falcons went 57 yards in five plays.
Trey Harmison found the end zone on a 15-yard run.
Connor Holle threw to Nic Allen for the two-point conversion to put Riley County up 36-16.
Concordia would pick up one first down on its next possession before Trost was able to pick up just four yards on a fourth down and eight run.
Riley County got the ball on its own 47-yard line, and Allen finished off a drive with a 7-yard touchdown run with 10:35 to play.
Harmison ran in the conversion to up the Falcons’ lead to 44-16.
Concordia would go 75 yards in six plays on its next possession.
Daniel Vines, a reserve runningback had a 25-yard run.
Alec Francis hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Trost, and it was 44-23.
Riley County was able to run the final 8:18 off of the clock to secure the win.
Concordia finished with 307 yards of offense, 237 rushing and 70 passing.
Riley County racked up 433 yards of total offense, including 363 on the ground.
Allen carried the ball 34 times for 247 yards and two touchdowns.
Harmison finished with 10 carries for 116 and two scores.
Holle completed four of seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.
It didn’t take long for Riley County to get untracked offensively.
Getting the ball on its own 42-yard line to start the game, the Falcons would get a 50-yard touchdown run by Harmison on the second play from scrimmage to grab a quick 7-0 lead.
Concordia would move the ball into Riley County territory on its first possession, but had the drive stall.
Atwood kicked a career best 40-yard field goal to make it 7-3.
Riley County went 80 yards in 10 plays.
Harmison scored on a 6-yard run with 3:40 to play in the first quarter.
Concordia would be forced to punt, and the Falcons took over on their own 49.
Holle completed a 32-yard pass to Avery Holle on second down and 14.
Allen finished off the drive three plays later on a 5-yard run, and it was 21-3.
Getting the ball on its own 20-yard line following the kickoff, the Panthers would run 14 plays. They converted on third down twice and on fourth down once.
A Trost pass on fourth down and eight from the Riley County 8-yard line was incomplete.
The Falcons would then go 74 yards in eight plays.
On a fourth down and goal play from the Concordia 7-yard line, Avery Holle was able to haul in a touchdown pass from Connor Holle.
Riley County would come up with an interception, and took the 28-3 lead into halftime.
Concordia scored two quick touchdowns to start the second half, but was unable to slow down the Falcons.

 

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