Football Panthers fall short in season opener

The NRHEG High School football team fell short in its 2025 season opener last Friday, falling to St. Clair/Mankato Loyola at St. Clair.

The Panthers trailed 12-8 at halftime but, unfortunately, that’s the way it ended.

The lone NRHEG score came in the second quarter on a 68-yard pass to A.J. Deen from Brooks Gilliland.

The Panthers took an 8-6 lead, but it was quickly erased.

The Cyclones scored on passes of 32 and 25 yards.

Gilliland finished with 181 yards passing but threw four interceptions, the only turnovers of the night for either team.

“It was a tough loss for the Panthers,” said NRHEG coach Marc Kruger. “We have some things to fix, but our defense played really well. They came up with some great plays and tackled really well. A few plays on broken coverage, and we would have held them scoreless.

Gilliland finished 9-for-33 passing for 198 yards.

For the night, the Panthers ran 60 plays to St,. Clair’s 54. The teams combined for 15 first downs, but NRHEG was outgained on the ground 47-17.

Also playing well, according to Kruger, were Sean Lassahn, Calvin Nissen and Fynn Bauman.

The Panthers open their home season Friday against a new foe in Hayfield at 7 p.m. in New Richland.