A halfback pass to the quarterback for a 30-yard touchdown kept the Mehlville High Panthers breathing, but it didn’t rescue them in their 35-21 loss Friday to the Parkway South High School Patriots.
“Some of our kids didn’t do their assignments and eventually we ran out of tricks,” Mehlville head coach Eric Meyer said.
Mehlville lost its second straight game to see its record drop to 3-4 as it opens Class 6 District 2 play at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Louis University High School. Next week, the Panthers will welcome neighboring Lindbergh High School into Panther territory for their second district game.
Parkway South (4-3) scored the only points of the first half on a 48-yard touchdown pass two minutes and 42 seconds into the game. Mehlville sophomore running back Chase Brown tied the game 7-7 on a six-yard touchdown run after a Patriots turnover.
“We came back and scored a touchdown after the defense caused a fumble. Then they scored and we scored. It was back and forth there in the third and early part of the fourth quarter,” Meyer said.
Less than a minute later, Parkway South had its touchdown lead back, but the Panthers responded with a 36-yard touchdown run by Brown.
“We had some real nice plays by Chase Brown and we had some real good blocking in front of him, so that’s good to see,” Meyer said.
Parkway South quarterback Eric Laurent scored on two touchdown runs to push the Patriots ahead 28-14 with 7:34 left in the game.
With 4:09 left in the game, senior running back Troy Parrott heaved the touchdown pass to senior quarterback Zach Hayes to spring Mehlville back into the game.
“Our kids battled their butts off, and that’s good to see,” Meyer said.
The Patriots thwarted Mehlville’s comeback with a touchdown with 1:51 remaining. The 35-21 decision was the first decided by less than 20 points in the last five meetings between the schools.
District play has not treated the Panthers kindly when they face SLUH, which also has a 3-4 record. SLUH squeaked out a 21-20 win at Mehlville last year and also won in 2008.
“I just tell the kids that every game is the last game. It’s a new beginning and it’s coming to the end. It’s all or nothing,” Meyer said.
