It took one whole quarter and a third of another for the Rugby Panthers to provide an answer for two Langdon Area-Munich-Edmore Cardinals touchdowns.

Incomplete passes and penalties on both the Panthers and the Cardinals put the Panthers on the wrong side of a 24-20 game last week at Johnsen Field in Rugby.

“The biggest thing is we got to get out and be ready when the game starts. Same thing last week and the same thing tonight,” said Panthers head coach Scott Grochow. “Once we got ready to go we were fine.”

The Cardinals capped their second drive of the game with a five-yard run from fullback Connor Tetrault, and junior quarterback Jacob Delvo connected with classmate Anfernee Economy on a 53-yard pass to put them ahead 16-0 to end the first quarter.

“Our quarterback, Jacob Delvo, he’s a kid that makes big plays for us,” said Cardinals head coach Joshua Krivarchka, “And he made some big plays that first quarter and set the tone for us.”

Around the 8:07 mark in the second quarter was when the Panthers had their response, capping a drive-that started with a short punt return-on a one-yard run by junior running back Kaden Jaeger.

The Panthers’ next response came early in the third quarter, with senior quarterback Anders Johnson completing an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Landen Foster.

After a punt allowed the Panthers to get the ball back, it didn’t stay long. The Cardinals intercepted a pass attempt in Panther territory, with Delvo connecting with classmate Chase Peebles on a pass that put the Cardinals in the red zone. After getting pushed back by a false start penalty, Delvo’s two runs, one of them a sneak play resulting in a touchdown, widened the Cardinals’ lead.

After a seven-play drive that was bolstered by an offsides penalty by the Panther defense and later marred by a false start penalty on the Cardinal offense, the Panthers would get the ball back with 11:40 to go in the game.

The Panthers recovered a fumble on their first play of the quarter, resulting in a two-yard loss. The Panthers would then receive a gift penalty while in Cardinal territory, converting a fourth down that came from an incomplete pass into a first down. The end of the drive saw Johnson connect with classmate Ethan Morin on an 11-yard pass.

“Anytime you have a region football game, we knew both teams were going to come out,” Krivarchka said. “It was a heck of a game, both teams played their hearts out.”

The Panthers played the Lakota Raiders on Friday to cap off Homecoming week, and face the Park River-Fordville-Lankin Aggies next week in Park River.

“There’s a ton of distractions and we got to limit those distractions and make sure they don’t become part of us,” said Grochow. “And we got to come ready to play in the beginning. We can’t be spotting people 14 points and expect to come back.”