Playing a Riverdale team that looks to be peaking for the postseason, Erie-Prophetstown struggled to get going in a 25-23, 25-19 loss in Thursday’s Class 2A Rock Falls Regional final.

The top-seeded Panthers finished 32-5 as the fifth-seeded Rams (23-10-1) advance to host the sectional at 6 p.m. on Tuesday against Eureka, which beat El Paso-Gridley.

The upset earned Riverdale its first regional title since 2021.

“They were relentless from start to finish,” E-P coach Rachel Bramm said of the Rams. “Both sets, [they] took advantage of some weaknesses that we showed tonight. Full props to them and best of luck moving forward.”

Both teams traded points in the opening set before the Rams began to pull away with a 12-6 lead. The Panthers rallied to tie it at 22-all, but the Rams always seemed to have an answer and make it tough for E-P to put balls away.

“Those couple runs that they built two, three, four points in a row got us a little bit down on ourselves and allowed them to build momentum,” Bramm said. “That’s what really made the difference in the end.”

E-P took a 1-0 lead in the second set, but the Rams would not trail again.

The Rams used soft touches to go over E-P’s blockers, often finding the floor or creating errors in the process.

Riverdale senior Katie Cox said keeping their energy high throughout the match this time around was key for the Rams. E-P beat Riverdale 23-25, 25-18, 25-19 on Oct. 8.

“I think we were really aggressive with our serving, which kept them out of system,” Cox said, “and helped us get some more out of system balls coming our way, so then we were able to put the ball down on their side.”

Riverdale’s defense made it tough for E-P to go on an extended run. Down 23-15, E-P got within five points in the second set before the Rams closed it out.

“Their defense is just really sound, they touch a lot of balls,” Bramm said. “They don’t let a lot of balls hit the floor and it’s hard to score on a team like that.”

Riverdale coach Amy Mitton said playing for each other made the difference in the win against such a talented team.

“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “They really play well as a team and I love it.”

Riverdale’s small, but very loud and engaged student section also fed into the momentum.

“We’ve been working really hard on keeping teams out of system. More aggressive serves. And when they came at us, we have been working endlessly on our blocks,” Mitton said. “We took that momentum away from them, and that’s what our goal was.”

Although the Panthers were not able to win another regional title after earning their first as a co-op last season, they have put together plenty of wins in recent years. E-P won 32 games the past two seasons and a total of 89 the last three seasons.

Bramm said this year’s team has been special in her first year as coach.

“We had 11 seniors this year, which is just unheard of,” she said. “Rarely do you ever see a senior class that big that sticks it through all the way. So we’re proud of them and just so happy that they had as successful a season as they did for their senior year.

“They provided some great leadership and a great opportunity for these younger kids to see an example of what they can do in the future.”