The Parkway Panthers matched the Evangel Christian Academy Eagles touchdown for touchdown for a while Friday night.
But in the end the Eagles’ powerful offense was too much for the Panthers in a 55-27 loss.
The game, which decided the District 1-5A championship, was played before a standing-room-only crowd at Evangel’s Rodney Duron Field.
Parkway finished the regular season 9-1, its best record in nine years. The Panthers were 7-1 in district play.
Parkway dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 in the non-select Division I power rankings as of Saturday afternoon at 4. The Panthers will host a first-round game. Pairings will be announced Sunday.
Evangel improved to 8-2 overall. The Eagles were 8-0 in district play.
The teams combined for 47 points in the first quarter with Evangel on top 27-20.
The Eagles went up 34-20 on a 10-yard run by quarterback Peyton Houston.
The Panthers then drove from its 20 to a first-and-goal at the Evangel 1. But the Eagles kept them out of the end zone on three straight runs. A fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
Evangel then hit two big pass plays and reached the Parkway 10. Penalties pushed the Eagles back to the 30 and the Panthers intercepted a pass at the 2.
The half ended with Evangel leading by 14.
Parkway took the second half kickoff and drove 58 yards for a touchdown to get within seven. But that’s as close as the Panthers would get.
The Eagles scored two touchdowns and led 49-27 going into the fourth quarter.
As he has for just about every team he’s faced, Houston caused problems for the Panthers throwing the ball and running with it.
Parkway put pressure on him at times but Houston’s scrambling ability made it difficult to bring him down.
On one play, the Panthers chased him from one side of the field to the other before finally bringing him down.
Houston threw touchdown passes of 36, 24 and 21 yards. The Eagles also scored on two long runs and a couple of short ones.
Per Parkway’s stats, Evangel had 308 yards rushing on 30 attempts.
Evangel put heavy pressure on Parkway quarterback Kaleb Williams, who completed 12-of-29 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
Gary Burney caught seven passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. Antonio Gladney caught four for 75 and a touchdown.
Parkway had 239 yards on the ground.
Braxxton Black rushed for 126 yards on 18 carries and scored a touchdown. Damian Decaldecal gained 81 yards on 12 carries and scored a touchdown.
Mark Copenhaver and Dallas Loche had interceptions. Copenhaver had a team-high 10 tackles. Brady Prine had eight tackles and recovered a fumble.