Things unraveled quickly in the second half for the La Salle-Peru football team Friday.

In a season-ending nonconference matchup against O’Fallon, the Cavaliers trailed by just a touchdown at halftime, but O’Fallon scored on four consecutive possessions to open the second half — two coming off L-P turnovers — to turn a close game into a 34-0 defeat for the Cavs.

“We have a great team and gave great effort, but we just made too many mistakes,” first-year L-P coach JJ Raffelson said.

The Cavs committed four turnovers — two interceptions thrown and two lost fumbles on quarterback-running back exchanges. The Panthers capitalized, turning three of those giveaways into 17 points.

“It’s been our way all year — we just haven’t been able to string four quarters together,” Raffelson said. “When we get down a little bit, it becomes hard to bounce back.”

Despite the second half struggles, L-P played toe-to-toe with O’Fallon in the first half. The Cavs drove to the Panthers’ 15-yard line late in the first quarter, but the drive stalled and ended on downs.

O’Fallon answered with a 78-yard, 16-play drive capped by a 2-yard quarterback sneak from Gunner Hoffman to take a 7-0 lead with 3:46 left before halftime.

Receiving the ball to start the second half, O’Fallon extended its lead with a 30-yard field goal to go up 10-0 midway through the third quarter.

That’s when things began to unravel for L-P.

On the second play of the next possession, sophomore quarterback Marion Persich threw a 45-yard pick-six to make it 17-0. The Cavs then fumbled on the first play of their next drive, and four plays later, the Panthers found the end zone again to go up 24-0 with 1:17 left in the third.

In all, O’Fallon scored 17 points in just 3 minutes, 16 seconds of game time.

The Panthers added a field goal and another touchdown off an L-P fumble in the fourth quarter to seal the 34-0 victory.

“We turned the ball over four times on our side of the field, but we just have to learn from it,” Raffelson said.

Persich finished 7-for-23 passing for 123 yards and two interceptions. Senior running back Easton Moriarty rushed for 14 yards, and senior Rylynd Rynkewicz added 13. Junior receiver Jaron Morscheiser caught four passes for 90 yards.

With the loss, L-P finished the season 2-7, but Raffelson said he’s proud of his team.

“I’m so proud of our kids, and I love them all,” he said. “They embraced me as a first-year head coach. My job is to help these seniors get ready for what’s next — whether that’s college or trade school, and eventually starting a family and to focus on the little things that make them better in the long run.”

Friday’s game also marked the final appearance for L-P’s seniors, many of whom Raffelson has coached and worked with personally.

“They really embraced me,” Raffelson said. “This senior class — a lot of them even wrote letters to the school asking for me to be their head coach. I hope they know everything we do as a staff is out of love and for them. This senior class has been really special to me.”

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Rafe Helming (1) of L-P leads team in high-five line after loss to O' Fallon on Friday, October 24, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium in LaSalle. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Local)