For a few minutes on Friday night, Edinburgh looked every bit like a team determined to clinch its first winning season in 28 years.
Once that opening burst of energy ran out, though, things went south in a hurry.
Visiting Park Tudor responded to the Lancers’ early flurry, pulling away for a 52-10 victory in the teams’ regular-season finale.
“We punched them in the mouth right from the get go,” Edinburgh coach Tyler DeSpain said. “We made mistakes and we had turnovers. … Offense, defense, special teams, you’ve got to win two of them, and we lost two out of three.”
The Lancers (5-4) needed just 93 seconds to break the ice, grabbing an early edge when Riley Palmeter hooked up with Caleb Dewey for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
Edinburgh’s prospects looked better still when Enrique Callejas knocked a 27-yard field goal through with 6:48 left in the opening period. But that, it turned out, was as good as the night was going to get for the home side.
The Panthers pulled ahead 12-10 by the end of the first quarter after cashing in on a Lancer turnover, and the momentum continued to snowball through the second period, allowing Park Tudor to take a commanding 32-10 advantage into halftime.
The visitors added three more touchdowns early in the second half to set off a running clock.
Palmeter finished 19 of 31 passing for 281 yards, but he was intercepted three times and sacked on six other occasions.
Dewey gained 163 yards on five catches, breaking his own single-season school record for receiving yardage in the process with 1,074.
Edinburgh now faces an even more daunting task in the form of a sectional road trip to Class A No. 1 Indianapolis Lutheran next week.
“I think we have the confidence to move the ball on anybody,” DeSpain said, “(but) we’re going to have to cut down on the turnovers and do things right.”
