North Platte (2-1) suffered their first loss of the 2015 season on the road at Kearney (2-1) on Friday night. The defense played tough in the 20-7 loss, but a pair of late scores to end the first half proved to be the difference. Kearney scored on a four-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jake Waller on their opening drive to take a 6-0 lead. It took until the final two minutes of the first half before Kearney would add to their lead on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jake Waller to Alex Harris with 1:27 to play in the second quarter. After the Bulldogs took over possession, two plays into their drive Harris intercepted a Cole Joneson pass and returned it 48-yards for a touchdown with 57 seconds to play in the half.

Trailing 20-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs defense continued to play strong in the second half keeping the Bearcats off the scoreboard the remainder of the night. The Bulldogs offense drove into the redzone on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter but failed to score after being stopped on fourth down both possessions. On their third trip to the redzone, North Platte capitalized for their only score of the night on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Cole Joneson to Darrin Armstrong with just over two minutes to play in the game.

North Platte returns home next Friday night (Sept. 18) to face Lincoln Southeast (0-3) at 7 pm at Bauer Field.