PERRYSBURG — The Maumee and Perrysburg rivalry has been going on for over a century, and it remains as strong as ever.

The Panthers proved that Friday night, giving Perrysburg a battle through three quarters before finally succumbing, 57-46.

“It’s still Perrysburg-Maumee and their kids still get up for the game, our kids still get up for the game, and our students get up for the game,” Perrysburg coach Dave Boyce said.

“Maybe Anthony Wayne is a little more the natural rival now, but (Maumee) coach (Ryan) Osier is doing a really good job there,” Boyce said.

Perrysburg senior Kannon Klusmeyer scored a game high 17 points and had three steals, junior Matt Watkins had 14 points and four rebounds and sophomore Austin Shultz scored 11 points, including hitting a trio of three-point goals.

Watkins said the Yellow Jackets were prepared for a battle.

“We knew coming into the game it was going to be tough. We played them earlier in the year and got a good win,” Watkins said. “But we knew they were going to come back tougher. It is a rivalry game, so everyone is giving it their best.”

Senior Cole Graetz led Maumee with 16 points and seven rebounds and junior Caden Brown scored 11 points.

A half century ago Maumee had the largest enrollment in the NLL, but this year MHS has 285 boys listed in three grades to Perrysburg’s 672, and the Yellow Jackets have dominated in recent years.

Despite double-digit inches of snow falling one day earlier, it was the only league game not canceled Friday, and a healthy crowd made the effort to get to this year’s cross-river contest.

Perrysburg, 15-2 overall and 9-1, is trying to stay within striking distance of league leader Sylvania Northview (16-1, 9-0). The Jackets and Wildcats meet in Perrysburg on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

The Panthers, 7-10 and 2-8, were trying to help Northview by pulling off the upset and it looked as if they might get it done.

“This is their best team in a number of years, they are playing hard, they are talented, they are well coached. They played well. That game could have gone either way,” Boyce said.

“I thought they played really hard, outplayed us on a lot of possessions and they made a lot of tough shots,” Boyce continued. “We didn’t shoot particularly well, but they had a solid gameplan and they did a nice job.”

Maumee had the confidence, having won three of four games coming in, including NLL wins over Springfield and Napoleon.

Maumee hit the game’s first two field goals, but the Yellow Jackets went on a 14-0 run to close the opening quarter and grabbed a 15-4 lead. The Panthers did not give in.

Maumee went on a 7-0 run to open the second stanza and a 15-foot jumper by Graetz cut Perrysburg’s lead to three, 20-17, with over two minutes remaining in the half.

From that point on, Maumee stayed within single digits, still trailing by four, 31-27, with 1;45 remaining in the third after senior R.J. McCoy scored on a dish from Graetz.

Perrysburg opened the fourth on an 11-0 run, stretching the lead to 41-30, a lead that proved to be too much for Maumee to overcome. Watkins said his team needed that fourth quarter run.

“During that third quarter when it was a close game, I told the team, ‘We’ve got to step it up and pressure the ball more,’” Watkins said. “I thought we did that really well in the fourth quarter and that allowed us to get a lot of run-outs (fast break points). I think that led us to get a good lead and a good win.”

Osier added, “Perrysburg is a great team. They took us out of our rhythm and that was our goal was to take them out of their rhythm. We did that in spurts.”

Perrysburg shot 54% (22-for-41) from the field, but only shot 42% (8-for-19) in the first half. The Jackets were 8-for-10 from the free throw line.

Perrysburg’s defense forced 16 Maumee turnovers while the Yellow Jackets were guilty of six, but the Panthers held a slim 23-21 edge off the glass.

Maumee was 18-for-39 (46%) from the field, but a paltry 42% (5-for-12) from the charity stripe.

For the Yellow Jackets, senior Luke Manges and junior Avery Hunt scored five apiece, junior Andrew Hunt had four points and senior Joey Bohman added one point.

For the Panthers, McCoy had nine points, six rebounds and two steals, junior Jaden Walker scored five points, freshman Carson Graetz scored three and junior Jayvon Hutchinson had two points and four rebounds.

Osier was pleased with the way his Panthers battled against an opponent that is in the hunt for an NLL title.

“From the first game (65-41 loss to Perrysburg) to the second game you can tell our guys are playing well. We’ve been in every game we’ve battled,” Osier said.

“We had Southview, Anthony Wayne, BG and our guys are playing. We’re like a small fish in a big pond, but you know, we are eating, and we are making teams beat us, which is a sense of pride I think we have here at Maumee now.

“We had to come in their house and for them to be scrapping for every point, we gave it our best.”

Maumee will leave the NLL to begin play in the Northern Buckeye Conference in 2023, but Osier says his players will continue competing through next year.

“It’s very important. In between games they presented their Junior Jackets and they had over 200-some odd boys and we have like 70,” Osier said.

“You know what, that doesn’t mean anything when the game gets on. Our kids, they have worked hard for this moment all the way back to their elementary years, so you can see that even when things are not working out for us, our guys can play basketball.”