After surrendering a 10-point lead in the third quarter and falling behind in the fourth, the Tooele Buffaloes football team fell three points short of defeating the Pine View Panthers Friday night at home.

The Buffaloes opened the game with two consecutive scores in the first quarter, a touchdown and a field goal to go ahead 10-o. They went on to maintain that margin for the majority of the frame, until the Panthers connected on an 80-yard pass to bring the score to 10-7 in the final two minutes.

An early rushing touchdown by Pine View gave them a 14-10 lead, which was followed by a third-and-out by the Buffaloes to give the Panthers the ball back. Tooele put a quick stop to the drive, however, when senior Cameron Barrett picked off Pine View’s first-down pass in the red zone to keep the game close.

Tooele once again capitalized on the ensuing possession, after several long rushing plays set up a seven-yard run by sophomore Gus Pater gave the Buffaloes a 16-10 lead with just over four minutes in the half. A fortunate penalty, followed by a sack on Pine View’s quarterback, kept the Panthers off the board and Tooele headed into the half with the lead intact.

To open the third quarter, the Buffaloes took advantage of another Panthers turnover, as an interception deep in Pine View’s zone — followed by a Pine View penalty- gave Tooele the ball in the red zone. Pater capped off the scoring drive with a nine-yard run to pad the lead at 24-14.

Things took a turn for the worse for the Buffaloes over the next quarter-and-a-half, as Pine View went on a 19-point scoring run, thanks to two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown, to give the Panthers a 33-24 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Buffaloes managed to march the ball down the field following Pine View’s touchdown, as Chlarson’s three-yard-run cut the margin to 33-31. Despite making a huge defensive stop to get the ball back with three minutes to go, Tooele’s comeback attempt was cut short when the Panthers blocked an attempted Buffaloes’ game-winning field goal and Pine View held on to win 33-31.

For game stats and quotes from head coach B.J. Hunter, read next week’s edition of the Tooele Transcript Bulletin.