Ethan Abben scored three touchdowns for Albert Lea during the Tigers matchup against Rochester Century on Friday.

The Panthers got the win, but Albert Lea trailed closely behind 27-19.

Tigers head coach Max Jeffrey said going into the game the Tigers knew they would be facing a running game and they weren’t wrong.

“They have the best running back probably in the Big Nine,” Jeffrey said. “We were on defense a long time. That makes it hard to score points.”

Besides Abben, Jeffrey credited Dylan See-Rockers and Derek Burkhard for helping the Tigers stay in the game.

“See-Rockers made some nice catches,” Jeffrey said. “And Derek was our game plan going in. We wanted to take advantage of their secondary so we counted on him.”

Century took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Then Abben scored, making it 7-6. Going in to the half, Jeffrey said the Tigers were trailing by two with a score of 14-12.

He said Century scored right away in the third, but with a long run by Abben, the Tigers stayed close 21-19.

Century’s final touchdown came in the fourth quarter to take the win by eight points.

“It doesn’t feel good to lose and it’ll sting a little bit, but we’ve got another great week of practice and then we’ll take on a very very talented John Marshall team,” Jeffrey said.

Stats were not provided to the Albert Lea Tribune by press time. Look in Monday’s paper for full results.