Park Rapids held a 19-13 lead midway through the first quarter before Perham responded by scoring six unanswered touchdowns en route to a 51-27 Section 8AAA football victory Thursday night at Perham.
A 33-yard pass from Dan Pike to Tucker Coborn, a 5-yard TD run by Kevin McMorrow and a 56-yard TD run by Coborn gave the Panthers a 19-13 lead with 5:27 to play in the first quarter.
Perham scored on its next four possessions to take a 38-19 lead into the half before adding two more scores in the third quarter for a 51-19 advantage. John Drury's 5-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter completed the scoring.
Perham improved to 5-1 in the Heart O'Lakes Conference North Division standings and 6-1 overall while Park Rapids fell to 1-4 in the conference and 2-5 overall.
On Wednesday, the Park Rapids girls cross-country team won the Mid-State Conference title at Headwaters Country Club with 31 points. Staples-Motley, the 10-time defending champion, was second with 45 points. Lydia Lutz (first), Victoria Lutz (second), Morgan Olson (fifth) and Summer Ellefson (10th) earned all-conference honors as the Panthers won their first Mid-State girls cross-country title since 1993. Park Rapids finished sixth in the boys meet with 151 points Detroit Lakes took first with 31 points. Taylor Kimball finished 19th overall to lead the Panthers.
