Irlmeier’s late TD lifts Wolves past Panthers

 LOGAN -- One year after losing a heartbreaker vs. Logan-Magnolia, the IKM-Manning football team finished strong at crunch time to beat the Panthers 36-32 in a back-and-forth affair Friday night at Logan.
 Trailing 17-15 at halftime, the Wolves took the lead on three separate occasions in the second half, capped by Carter Irlmeier’s 37-yard touchdown run (his third of the half) with 1:21 to go.
 IKM-M then stopped the Panthers on downs near midfield and ran out the clock to improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in District 7 of Class 1-A - tied for first place with AHSTW (4-0, 2-0).
 The hard-fought victory secured a measure of revenge for the Wolves, who last year were stopped at the 5-yard line on their final drive in a 14-8 home loss to the Panthers, now 2-2 overall and 1-1 in district play.
 IKM-Manning had to play from behind for much of the game, including early defecits of 7-0 and 10-6, but began to turn things around following Jessup Lake’s 63-yard touchdown run for Lo-Ma with 1:05 left in the first half. The Wolves were able to respond right away with Stephen Grimm’s two-yard TD run on the final play of the first half, then got a two-yard score from Irlmeier two minutes into the third quarter to take their first lead, 22-17.
 The Panthers would go ahead two more times on short touchdown runs by Bo Geise and Lake (with 3:38 to go), but IKM-Manning put together scoring drives of 80 yards (21 plays) and 63 yards to re-take the lead both times as Irlmeier scored from five and 37 yards, respectively.