Maple Grove’s Jackson Gowan (15) looks for room to run during Thursday’s eight-man football game against Pembroke.

P-J photo by Scott Reagle

CORFU — Maple Grove stayed close with Pembroke all night long, but was unable to rally in a 30-22 eight-man football loss Thursday.

The game, originally scheduled to be played this evening, was moved to Thursday due to a lack of officials available in Section V.

The teams were tied 8-8 after the first quarter, but Pembroke took a 16-8 lead into halftime. After the break, Pembroke scored the first touchdown of the third quarter to lead 24-8 and the teams traded scores after that. Maple Grove attempted to save the clock with timeouts down the stretch, but was unable to get the ball back and attempt to tie the score.

“I think we got some of our guys on defense in better positions to make plays. They were in better positions that suited their skill sets. We were taken by surprise Week 1 by how fast the game was,” said Maple Grove head coach Justin Hanft, whose Red Dragons lost to Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 60-12 last Friday.

“Coach Kevin Burns did a really good job of the game plan, despite the game being changed from Friday to Thursday. We had guys in the right positions, we just need to make the tackles.”

The Red Dragons committed seven penalties for 130 yards and were 0 for 9 on third down.

“We had a slow start shooting ourselves in the foot,” Hanft said. “In the second half, we turned it around and made a game of it. Jackson Gowan had a great second half.”

Carter Martin led Maple Grove with 16 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown. Ayden Reagle also ran for 18 yards, including a touchdown. Gowan completed six passes for 59 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown to Jake Tomlinson.

Kyle Trim led the Red Dragons with 11 1/2 tackles, including a sack, while Tomlinson had seven tackles.

Maple Grove 8 0 0 14 — 22

Pembroke 8 8 8 6 — 30