It took Maple River, the No. 1 football team in the Section 3AA standings, four overtimes to defeat New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.

Lightning caused the game to be postponed with 2 minutes and 37 seconds left in the third quarter on Friday. The score was tied at seven.

Action resumed on Saturday, but neither team scored, so the game went to overtime. After continuing to go scoreless in the first three overtimes, a Maple River field goal in the fourth overtime gave the Eagles the win.

“Our kids played very hard,” said NRHEG head coach Dan Stork. “I’m proud of the effort they put forward.”

The Panthers were led by running back Dillon Parpart, who rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries. NRHEG out-gained Maple River by more than 50 yards rushing. Parpart gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Eagles defense didn’t allow any more points for the rest of the game.

“Maple River is very physical up front, and that made it tough to do some of the things we wanted to do,” Stork said.

The Panthers held Maple River (6-0 overall, 4-0 Gopher Valley AA) to 13 first downs, 218 yards of total offense and 10 points. Before Friday, the Eagles averaged 27 points per game.

Despite playing through four quarters and four overtimes, the Panthers played a clean game with four penalties for 30 yards. The Eagles had double the penalties for double the yardage.

NRHEG had no turnovers, but they created one. Panthers quarterback Trevor Tracy grabbed an interception and had one tackle. Leading NRHEG’s defense was Parpart with 10 tackles and Noah Krell with nine.

Next, NRHEG (3-3 overall, 3-1 Gopher Valley AA) will host Mankato Loyola at 7 p.m. Friday. The Crusaders have not won a game this season. In the Section 3AA standings, the Panthers are in fourth place out of nine teams.