SENECA -- The Manteno Panthers scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to erase a one-point Seneca advantage and hand the Irish a 27-14 loss.

Neither of the Seneca losses count in the Interstate Eight Conference Small School division, and the Irish will have one more chance to get everything in order before Large School Division play begins when it faces Sandwich next week in another matchup that does not count as a conference contest.

Last week at Herscher the Irish showed some promise in certain areas, and there were some positives to be taken from last night's performance as well. Seneca (0-2) intercepted two passes and forced a fumble for a touchback, responded to an early Manteno tally to take the lead and did a nice job on special teams.

"We weren't as sharp this week, but a lot of that was Manteno's defense," said Seneca coach Don Brown. "Frankly we didn't handle their stunting very well and we didn't do a good job of picking up their people. We did some good things again, but we're just not consistent. We've played well enough in spurts, but we have to play four quarters."

Manteno (2-0) struck paydirt on its second series. The Panthers used 2 minutes, 13 seconds to move 29 yards in five plays with Daniel Kizior hitting Austin Fregeau for a nine-yard TD with 4:07 to play in the opening stanza. The PAT was successful.

Chad Humphreys took the Panther kickoff down the left sideline from his 12 to the Manteno eight-yard line, but his 80-yard return was negated by a penalty and the Irish set up on offense at their own 40. Irish quarterback Jaret Trager hooked up with Seth Hobbs for a 21-yard gain and a first down, and three plays later Michael Maierhofer took the ball on a reverse and went 33 yards for a TD. Humphreys' extra point was good, and it was a 7-7 game with 2:28 to go in the first quarter.

Manteno set up shop on its own 31-yard line following the Seneca kickoff, but on the first snap, Griffan Callahan picked off Kizior's pass to give the Irish good field position at the Panther 28. That didn't last long as Manteno picked off Trager on the first Seneca play and the Panthers began their next drive from their own 26.

The Panthers had a second-and-two at their own 41 to start the second period and Kizior hit Jim Sandline for 45 yards on the first play of that frame. Manteno moved down to the Irish 12, but Kizior fumbled the ball through the end zone for a touchback on third down. Neither squad was able to score in the period.

Seneca's offense began the third quarter at the Irish 33-yard line and after a Seneca holding penalty, Maierhofer took another reverse to the left and went 49 yards to the Manteno 27. Five plays later, on a fourth-and-one play at the five, Trager ran what looked like a quarterback draw for a touchdown. Humphreys' kick made it 14-7.

"Jaret has to have time to throw," Brown said. "We didn't protect well, and no quarterback in the world is going to throw well in 0.5 seconds. We had a busted play that he scored on and it was one in which he, as a senior, sniffed the end zone and decided he was going to get in and he slammed it in there and gave us the lead. We're not good enough to make any mistakes."

Manteno used nine plays and 4:16 to get that score back, but failed to convert the point-after from the 25-yard line following a penalty, leaving Seneca up 14-13.

Manteno put up its third touchdown of the night in a nine-play drive early in the fourth quarter, but failed on the PAT again, giving the visitors a 19-14 edge. The Irish were unable to move the ball when they got it back and Manteno took over at the Irish 16-yard line and scored on its second play, a 10-yard run by Mitch Goad. Goad also ran in the two-point conversion to make it a 27-14 game with 2:04 to play.

"Their quarterback, Kizior, is a hell of an athlete," Brown said. "He just willed things. He said, 'I'm going to make a play,' and he made a play. We had people there some time, but we just didn't make the tackles. We knew he was quick; he did the same things at Dwight.

"They ran the ball at us and we have to find people to step up for the people we have out. Nic had a nice game for one week of practice. When we lost Luke Underhill, that was a two-way player, but every coach in the state has the same things. Nic will get better every week. He ran hard all night."

Maierhofer finished with 84 yards rushing and nine receiving, while Ugolini ran for 45 yards and Hobbs went for 42. Chad Knapp and Callahan each had an interception.

Manteno (2-0, 0-0) 7 0 6 14 -- 27

Seneca (0-2, 0-0) 7 0 7 0 -- 14

First Quarter

M -- Fregeau reception from Kizior 9 (George kick), 4:07, 7-0.

S -- Maierhofer 33 run (Humphreys kick), 2:28, 7-7.

Second Quarter

No scoring

Third Quarter

S -- Trager 5 run (Humphreys kick), 8:39, 7-14.

M -- Kizior 5 run (PAT failed), 4:23, 13-14.

Fourth Quarter

M -- Kizior 55 run (PAT failed), 4:32, 19-14.

M -- Goad 10 run (Goad 2-pt PAT), 27-14.

M S

First Downs 21 12

Rushes-yards 33-230 33-145

Passing 202 45

Total Offense 432 190

Comp-Att-Int 13-26-2 3-17-1

Punts/Avg 1-30 4-25.3

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 7-80 4-40

Time of possession 24:57 23:03

-- -- --

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- M: Kizior 18-169, Goad 10-64, Sandling 1-(-3). S: Maierhofer 10-84, Ugolini 11-45, Hobbs 7-42, Trager 6-(-26).

PASSING (Comp-Att-TD-INT-Yds.) -- M:Kizior 13-25-1-2-202, Fregeau 0-1-0-1-0. S: Trager 3-16-0-0-45, Hobbs 0-1-0-1-0. RECEIVING -- M: Fregeau 4-58, Sandling 2-45, Prince 4-52, Pavlik 2-34. S: Hobbs 1-21, Callahan 1-15, Maierhofer 1-9.