Area football: Clayton 26, Pepin-Alma 18

Game recap: Pepin-Alma had the ball with seven minutes left on the road Friday. If the Eagles could reach the end zone and tack on a two-point conversion they would tie the game and force overtime. Instead, a sack stalled the drive at midfield and P-A turned the ball over on downs.

Earlier in the fourth quarter the Eagles had pulled within two on Danny Kujak's 4-yard run, but an 18-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Ketz to Kyle Larson pushed the lead to eight.

Difference maker: "We made a lot of mistakes," Pepin-Alma coach Mike Olson said. "We had a lot of costly penalties that negated some big gains for us."

Top player: Ryan Erickson rushed for 207 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries.

"They tried to take away our outside and that opened up the middle," Olson said.

Next up: P-A (1-3 overall, 0-2 South Lakeland Conference) at Cornell, 7 p.m. Friday

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