FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist football team dropped a 39-30 contest to LaGrange on Saturday afternoon in a game played with no power in the stadium during the first half.
 
A blown transformer in the area meant that the beginning of the game was played with no power on campus, forcing the refs to keep time manually on the field. The odd start to the contest did not affect the Monarchs as MU raced out to a 21-12 lead with 13:01 left to play in the third quarter.
 
MU's (0-3, 0-1 USA South) first score came on a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown by Tristin Ellerbe on LaGrange's (1-2, 1-0) second play of the contest. LaGrange answered with a seven-yard pass from Connor Blair to Marcus Campbell that trimmed the MU lead to 7-6 with 8:26 left in the first quarter following the first of three failed PATs for the Panthers.
 
In the second quarter, Josh Carter hauled in his first career touchdown reception, a 14-yarder from Steve Keoni, to make it 14-6 at the 13:13 mark. Blair followed with a 45-yard pass to Kiontai Button and another failed PAT made it 14-12 midway through the second stanza.
 
The Monarchs' lead grew to 21-12 in the third quarter as Mark Stanford picked off Blair on the second play of the half and three plays later E'Montie Dears scored on a six-yard run at the 13:01 mark.
 
The Panthers answered with four consecutive scores, beginning with a 35-yard run by Nicholas Searcy on the ensuing drive to make it 21-19. After forcing MU to go three and out, LC got the ball back at midfield and Brendon Scott took a handoff and raced 50 yards on the Panthers' first play to give LC its first lead at 26-21 with 7:47 left in the quarter.
 
Blair then found Djeimon Owens on a 25-yard scoring pass late in the quarter and Searcy added a 25-yard run early in the fourth as LC went up 39-21.
 
Methodist cut its deficit to 11 points (39-28) on an eight-yard pass from Keoni to Dylan Cummings with eight minutes to play.
 
The Monarchs forced a LaGrange punt on the ensuing drive, but the comeback was thwarted when LC came up with an interception after MU had driven the ball to the Panthers' five yard line.
 
The Panthers took a safety on the game's final play as they ran out the clock.
 
LaGrange outgained MU 406-273 overall, including 229-87 on the ground. The Panthers were also 6 of 12 on third down and punted just twice. MU was 5 of 16 on third down and punted seven times in the contest.
 
Keoni finished 18 of 30 passing for 186 yards with a pair of touchdowns and one interception. Cummings hauled in six passes for a career-high 98 yards, and Xzavier McNeil added 65 yards on six grabs. Dears carried 24 times for 70 yards with one touchdown.
 
Defensively, Stanford led the way with eight tackles, 1.5 for loss, and an interception. Dennis Livers had seven tackles, and Will England added five stops, including one sack among his 1.5 tackles for loss.
 
Blair was 14 of 23 passing for 177 yards with three scores and two interceptions. Campbell led LC with 71 yards on six grabs. Searcy gained 128 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns, and Scott added 119 yards on 12 carries with the long touchdown run.
 
Fabian Ryan led the Panther defense with nine tackles and a sack. Xavior Coaxum had eight tackles.
 
Methodist will hit the road next week at Averett beginning at 6 pm.