North Johnston marched down the field swiftly in its opening possession of the 2008 1-AA playoffs, taking an early lead on a 10-win Midway squad Friday night.

But as well as the Panthers played on defense throughout the night, the offense couldn't match their opening feat, leaving the Raiders (11-1) to advance with a 14-7 victory.

It was North's second loss to Midway of the season but it did show some of the progress the Panthers have made since the early season. After all, North Johnston lost by 13 points to the Raiders on the same field in September.

"The last five or six weeks, these guys really came together and played great," said North Johnston coach Tom Nelson after his team finished off a 5-7 season.

The Panthers' defense did all it could to keep the season alive, however. They held Midway scoreless on a key drive at the end of the first half, holding the Raiders out of the end zone on five plays from inside of the Panther 10-yard line. Midway had a touchdown called back on the drive when they were whistled for aiding the runner.

The Panthers did almost the same thing on the Raiders' first drive of the season half. Midway rolled to the North Johnston 1-yard run but lost yardage on three consecutive plays. North's Jacob Lewis and Grey Bruton both had tackles for a loss on the drive, helping to force the Raiders into a field goal attempt.

But Midway didn't go for the field goal. Instead, Raiders' holder Jonathan Poole threw to Cory Clegg in the corner of the end zone. Clegg made the catch while falling backwards. Midway missed the extra-point leaving North up 7-6 with 5:18 to play in the third quarter.

"I wasn't too concerned after that play," Nelson said. "I was comfortable with where we were and our defense was playing so well. It was a fluke fake field goal where they're guy made a great play."

The issue for North Johnston, however, was Midway's continued improvement on defense. After the Panthers went to the lead on the game's opening drive - a 15-play jaunt that ended with Joe Harned throwing a 13-yard TD pass to Charles Pipkin, the Raider defense held North Johnston to two first downs in the next two quarters.

"Midway played great on defense," Nelson said. "I thought we had a couple of things going at times but we just weren't able to keep anything going."

The Panther ground attack was limited to 84 yards rushing, led by Glenwood Watson's 50 yards on 21 carries. Joseph Royal had a game-high 109 yards rushing for 18 carries.

Midway continued to improve its field position with every exchange of punts in the late third and early fourth quarter. The Raiders started their first drive after their TD on their own 25. The next drive started on the 37 and the next started at the 46.

That's where Clegg broke free on a 54-yard touchdown run that put the Raiders ahead with 6:37 to play. Thomas High caught the two-point conversion pass to up the lead to 14-7.

North got its final chance to score on their next possession and moved the ball to the Midway 38 at one point but penalties (three of their 14 in the game came on the final drive) and a sack left the Panthers facing fourth-and-19 with 1:41 to play. The pass attempt fell incomplete and the Raiders ran out the clock North's season.

In the loss, the Panthers extended their streak of holding opponents to 14 points or less to five games.

North will lose 20 seniors to graduation: Bruton, Lewis, Pipkin, Harned, Watson, Jamaal Taylor, Spenser Lebbano, Wayne Johnson, Ryne Mitchell, Stephen Newport, Tyler Hayes, Justin Carver, Noah Abbott, Jonathon Hicks, Charlie Young, Keith Davis, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sanders and Mike Etheridge.

The Panthers were 4-2 in their final six games with the two losses coming by a combined eight points.

"The team came together and we really played our best football at the end of the season," Nelson said. "You never like for a season to end but to finish so strong and be as improved as we were at the end of the season makes me really proud."