Football Game Preview: Park Rapids Panthers vs. Thief River Falls Prowlers + How To Watch

Park Rapids and Thief River Falls are an even 4-4 against one another since August of 2015, but not for long. The Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Prowlers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Park Rapids is coming into the game hot, having won their last three games.

On Friday, Park Rapids beat Warroad 27-14. That looming 27-14 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Panthers yet this season.

Park Rapids had a senior duo take command as Carter Hirt threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns while completing 72.2% of his passes and Kaden Gartner picked up 72 receiving yards and a pair of TDs. Gartner also deserves a shoutout for his performance on D, picking up 0.5 sacks, making three total tackles (1.0 for loss), and defending one pass.

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Park Rapids proved: they limited Warroad to a paltry 2.6 yards per carry. The team can thank Parker Hunter for the heroic effort on defense: he. Park Rapids' run defense has been on the up-and-up: they allowed 4.43 yards per carry earlier this season, but they've only allowed 4.33 on average over their last three games.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 41-14, which was the final score in Thief River Falls' tilt against East Grand Forks on Friday.

Thief River Falls' defeat dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Park Rapids, the win got them back to even at 3-3.

Things could have been worse for Park Rapids, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 38-21 loss to Thief River Falls in their previous meeting back in October of 2022. Can the Panthers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.