A packed house of retired and active military personnel filled Mehlville Senior High School’s Jack Jordan Stadium Friday night as the Panthers hosted Fox for the two teams’ annual Huddle Up for Heroes game.

But a spirited home crowd and an emotion-filled atmosphere wasn’t enough to give the Panthers the edge, as they fell 34-14 to the 4-2 Warriors. Mehlville is now 1-5 on the season.

The Panthers’ troubles started early when they missed a golden opportunity.

They made their way inside the 5-yard line on their opening drive, but fumbled and came away empty handed. Fox scored late in the first quarter to take the lead 7-0.

The Panthers answered as Jabari Shelton scored his first of two touchdowns on the night to tie the game 7-7, but they lost control of the game after that.

Mehlville head coach Kent Heinemann gave credit to the War-riors for their performance, but he acknowledged that the problem wasn’t Mehlville’s opponent.

“I think we had three turnovers all night. But when you get over 300 yards of offense and you only score 14 points, that’s a big problem,” the Mehlville coach told the Call. “We had a hard time stopping their option.

“I will say this, they are not a bad team. They are very disciplined. They had very few penalties. They don’t turn the ball over. They just outplayed us.”

The Panthers showed some positive signs Friday night, but consistency is a must if they are going to be successful, according to Heinemann.

“I think some positives are we moved the ball pretty well at times. We made some adjustments that worked in our favor, but we aren’t finishing drives,” he said. “You just can’t have the ball in the red zone that many times and come away with only 14 points.”

As week seven approaches, Mehlville will be looking for its second win of the season when they take on Northwest, a team they have only lost to once in the past several years.

But it’s going to be a challenge, Heinemann said.

“They are coming off of a win (over Seckman). They are similar to Fox. They run tight splits. They run — it’s the whole three yards and a cloud of dust,” he said. “If they knock us off the ball, we are going to have a rough night.

“But if we move the ball like we did Friday night and finish drives, I feel good about it.”