Football Recap: North Pole Comes Up Short in High-Profile Contest with Lathrop

North Pole faced Lathrop in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. The Patriots and the Malemutes were almost perfectly matched up, but the Patriots suffered a 14-13 defeat. Surprisingly, this marked the Patriots' fifth straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.

Despite the loss, North Pole still got an impressive performance from Patrick Melvin, who picked up 108 receiving yards and one score, and also rushed for 32 yards and one touchdown.

North Pole didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of David Hollett and Landon Ritter.

North Pole now has a losing record of 2-3. As for Lathrop, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 4-1.

Coming up, North Pole will look to defend their home field on Friday against Eagle River at 7:30 p.m. As for Lathrop, they are taking a road trip to take on Palmer at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The Malemutes will need to watch out since the Moose have now posted at least 31 points every time they've taken the field this season.