There was a skirmish on the sidelines that led to a player ejection.

A bank of lights went out just before halftime.

A backup quarterback threw a touchdown pass.

Through all of it, La Salle-Peru hung with state-ranked Metamora for a half.

But in the second half the Cavaliers made several key miscues, and the Class 4 No. 6-ranked Redbirds capitalized to pull away for a 32-20 nonconference victory Friday at Howard Fellows Stadium.

“The first half I thought we fought,” L-P coach JJ Raffelson said. “They came down and scored (on their first drive), and then we responded for pretty much the whole first half after that. Offensively, we have to move the ball a little better at times by just guys knowing where they’re at or what we need to do or getting guys in an out of whatever personnel we have in the game.

“It’s little things with us. If we fine-tune those little things, it’s going to really start to put all the pieces in action.

“When it comes down to my boys, I love those kids. They fight every play. As a head coach, I ask them to be good human beings and keep fighting no matter the situation, and they did that. Do we need to learn? Yes. Do we need to get better? Yes. But when it comes down to it, they keep fighting.”

After Metamora scored on its first drive, the Cavs forced punts on the Redbirds’ next two.

L-P went three-and-out on its first two drives before finding a spark on the third drive.

L-P quarterback Marion Persich broke free for a 44-yard run on the Cavs’ first play, but he was tackled late out of bounds. L-P and Metamora players got into a tussle on the L-P sideline, leading to offsetting personal fouls and the ejection of a Redbird player.

Three plays after the incident, Persich scored on an 11-yard run, then added the conversion run to tie the game at 8.

The momentum swung even more in L-P’s favor when Metamora muffed the short kick and L-P’s Evan Downey recovered to set the Cavs up on the Metamora 35-yard line.

But the Cavs couldn’t capitalize, as Persich was stopped short on 4th-and-3. The Redbirds then marched 74 yards in 15 plays.

On 2nd-and-goal, Metamora quarterback Stephen Petri had his helmet come off and had to sit out a play. Backup Christian Nelson came on to throw a 5-yard TD pass to Kylan McMillen with 9.5 seconds left in the half.

Just after the score, one of the five banks of lights in the stadium went out. After a brief discussion, the Redbirds kicked off, and L-P took a knee to go into halftime down 16-8.

In the second half, Metamora scored on its first drive to go up 24-8 and later took advantage of a short field following a dropped punt snap to extend the lead to 32-14 with 3 minutes left in the game.

Also in the second half, the Cavs had a TD negated by penalty, fumbled twice but recovered both, and Persich was sacked three times.

“We went from a 2nd-and-5 to 2nd-and-20, and we were in their territory,” Raffelson said. “We had a touchdown called back. It’s just fine tuning things we’re trying to implement.”

Persich did score on a 2-yard run to make it 24-14 with 3:20 left in the third and added a 32-yard scoring scamper with 1:46 left in the game. He ran for 102 yards and three TDs on 11 carries and completed 8 of 14 passes for 89 yards. L-P finished with 199 yards.

Metamora ran for 171 yards, led by Jaiduan Cranford with 123 yards and two TDs on 22 carries and Petri with 52 yards and a score on 21 attempts.

“Really, they had one big run,” Raffelson said. “(Cranford) is a Division I running back. They have a big offensive line. I thought we held them in check for what we needed to do.

“We just have to make sure we get our reads and wrap up and make the tackle, because sometimes we miss some tackles in open space or gaps.”

L-P (0-2) heads to rival Ottawa (2-0) for a nonconference game in Week 3.

“They’re going to come ready to go,” Raffelson said. “It’s a rival. I know a lot of those boys over there. They’re a good group of kids. They want to fight just like we do. We just need to encourage our boys. They’re still all good.

“They’re all-in on everything we’re doing. We just need to fine-tune.”

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Metamora's Jaiduan Cranford runs the ball as L-P's Jaron Morscheiser looks to make the tackle as his teammate Evan Downey falls to the turf on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium. (Scott Anderson)