Phil Blair scored on a seven-yard run in the fourth quarter to give the Mehlville Senior High School football team a 27-21 victory over Northwest Friday night.

“Northwest really battled us,” Mehlville head coach Eric Meyer said. “We made enough mistakes that kept them going and as the game went on, up went their confidence.”

The Panthers (2-1, 2-0 Suburban West) jumped out to a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter when quarterback Tyrone Clark scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 0:48 left in the quarter. Clark finished the night with 66 yards rushing.

“It was a tough night for Tyrone,” Meyer said. “He was sick all week and battled throughout the evening. I thought he played a tough game.”

Mehlville extended its lead to 14-0 when Justin Talley scored on a four-yard run in the second quarter. Talley carried the ball nine times for 25 yards.

“Whenever Justin got the ball, he had some good gains out there,” Meyer said. “I thought he also did a good job blocking.”

Northwest (0-3, 0-2 Suburban West) cut Mehlville’s lead to 14-7 when quarterback Jake Waterkotte connected with Justin Havrilla on a 69-yard pass. Waterkotte completed 10 of 24 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns.

The Panthers responded to the Lions’ touchdown with a 34-yard touchdown run by Christian Stewart to give Mehlville a 21-7 lead. Stewart had 17 carries for 114 yards.

“Christian bounced to the outside and got the touchdown on that play,” Meyer said. “I thought that he had a really nice game.”

The Lions sliced Mehlville’s lead to 21-14 right before halftime as Waterkotte connected with Havrilla on a 15-yard pass. Havrilla caught seven passes for a whopping 171 yards against the Panthers.

Havrilla and Waterkotte connected again in the third quarter on a 17-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 21-21.

But Blair gave the Panthers the go-ahead touchdown and the eventual win on a seven-yard run in the fourth quarter. He racked up eight carries for 58 yards in the victory.

“We would like to give Phil the ball more,” Meyer said. “He battled them all night long.”

The Panthers return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they travel to Parkway South (1-2, 1-0 Suburban West), which posted an impressive 22-14 win over Kirkwood last Friday when Kevon McGrew scored on a 67-yard touchdown run with 3:57 left in the game.

“They run a spread offense and they just had a big win against Kirkwood,” Meyer said. “So we’re probably going to have our work cut out for us.”