Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Warren G. Harding’s Mandes Provitt, right, looks for running room after receiving the ball from quarterback James Jones during Friday’s game against Perry in Warren.

WARREN — The Warren G. Harding Raiders waited until there was just over two minutes left in the game to score. In fact, there were three touchdowns in the final 2:37, but the late offensive outburst wasn’t enough to overcome a 18-point deficit when they hosted Massillon Perry on Friday.

Last season, the Raiders controlled the ball and beat Perry in Massillon. However, last night, the Panthers returned the favor and walked away with a 25-15 victory.

“Perry did a good job of controlling the ball,” Harding coach Matt Richardson said. “We ran 14 plays in the first half. That makes it hard to get into any kind of a rhythm on offense. A lot of times, we were in bad field position. They did a good job of putting us in spots where things were a little out of our control.”

Perry received the opening kickoff, and after a long drive, faced a fourth and goal from the 2-yard line. The Panthers punched it in for a touchdown but missed the extra point to make it 6-0.

Harding quarterback James Jones aired it out to junior Matt Richardson on the Raiders’ first play. A pass interference penalty gave Harding a free 15 yards, but the Raiders finished the drive with a punt.

Perry put together a similar series to its first drive of the game to begin the second quarter. The Panthers, once again, faced a fourth and goal from the 2. However, the Raiders’ defense stepped up to the challenge and forced a turnover on downs.

Harding (1-2) moved the ball out of their own end zone on offense, but the Raiders were forced to punt the ball away again.

This time, the Panthers made Harding pay when quarterback Nasir Foster connected with Evan Spurrell on a 45-yard touchdown pass to close out the first half. The extra point made the score 13-0 at halftime.

The Raiders got the ball to begin the second half, but the Perry (3-0) defense forced Harding into another punt.

The teams exchanged multiple punts before disaster struck for Harding.

The Panthers punted it to the 2-yard line, but a 12-men on the field penalty and a false start pushed the Raiders into the shadow of their own end zone. Perry exploded through the line for a safety to go ahead 15-0 at the end of the third quarter.

The Panthers had the ball again to begin the fourth quarter. This time, the Harding defense forced Perry to attempt a 29-yard field goal, and the Raiders blocked the kick.

However, when the Panthers got the ball again, they attempted another field goal and the kick went through the uprights to make the score 18-0.

Harding finally got on the board with 2:37 remaining in the fourth. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Connor Shephard ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run when Perry got the ball back, and the score was 25-7.

The Raiders added a 80-yard touchdown on a pass-and-catch from Jones to Kai Blutcher with 1:08 left, but the Panthers ran out the clock after the two-point conversion and a failed onside kick attempt.