It went down to the final possession last year in the regular season with the Nemaha Valley Raiders stopping the Hiawatha Red hawks on a fourth and goal play to preserve a win at home, this year the showdown was in Hiawatha and it went down to the final possession again with Hiawatha having the ball and behind.

With only three seconds left in the game the Red Hawks took to the field with fourth and goal from the one and ran a pitch play for Brenden Steele to the left and into the endzone he went to bring it to 14-13 with Hiawatha an extra point away from overtime. Red Hawks lined up for the extra point and it went askew, miss firing and sending the Red Hawks to the loss at home and the Raiders a 14-13 road win.

The game would start with a slightly weather delay as team Mother Nature played a factor in games across Northeast Kansas, but when the game got started it was all Hiawatha in the first half dominating and shutting the Raiders offense down holding them to under 40 yards of offense in the first half. Red Hawks started the game with a methodical drive that reached the redzone but stalled out on a fourth down play and later in the first the Red Hawks missed fired on a 28-yard field goal that would have gave them the lead at the half, but instead it was scoreless at the half.

Coming out of the second half, Mother Nature struck again forcing a lighting delay but once the second half started the third quarter was all Nemaha Valley with around nine minutes of the quarter spent on offense for the Raiders, including a 17 play 75 yard drive culminating in the first score of the game a six-yard touchdown run by Devin Henry.

The Red Hawks responded on two drives later with a score of their own going nine plays for 38 yards and getting a 27-yard touchdown pass from Ryker Smith to Conner Bigham, making it a 7-7 ball game after the extra point.

The Raiders then had the go head score on a 16-yard touchdown run by Caleb Meyer to regain the lead 14-7, but plenty of time was left for the Red hawks.

Red Hawks went 17 plays 58 yards and scored that touchdown by Steele as time expired but came up short with the extra point, sending them to 2-3 on the season and improving the Raiders to 4-1 on the year.

Nemaha Valley was led by quarterback, Meyer who finished 8-15 103 yards and rushing touchdown to take Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors in the game. Henry finished with 73 yards on the ground and 58 yards receiving.

For Hiawatha it was Steele leading the way with 110 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown, while Smith was 5-10 for 61 yards and a touchdown pass to Bigham.

The Red Hawks now turn their attention to the Chargers of Santa Fe Trail next week as Hiawatha will travel to Carbondale. For the Raiders of Nemaha Valley they head home to host rival Sabetha next Friday.