It seemed like Paris was in store for a shootout with North Shelby on Friday night at home.

Paris trailed 28-20 but then fell behind 42-20 after the third quarter before losing 56-28. The game featured 12 touchdowns. North Shelby quarterback Jade Daniel threw for five touchdowns to account for 242 yards of North Shelby’s 419 yards of total offense, and Paris quarterback Colton Kendrick countered with four touchdowns – three rushing – to go with 231 yards of total offense.

Kendrick ran for 184 yards on 18 carries to keep Paris (1-2) in the game against North Shelby’s stout running game that massed 275 yards – 83 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries by Cole Browning – and Daniel’s connection with Gabe Orr that went for 137 yards and all five touchdowns on seven catches.

Head coach Cody Carney said a few plays made the difference in the result. In the second quarter, he said Paris had about a 50-yard touchdown called back because of a holding call and then Paris punted and the Raiders (1-2) scored a touchdown soon after. North Shelby went ahead two touchdowns in the third quarter and then Carney said Paris wasn’t able to score despite advancing the ball to the three-yard line, but North Shelby reached the end zone not long after for the three-touchdown lead.

“We just had a few plays that didn’t quite go our way,” Carney said. “It’s one of those sayings that you can lose by three (scores) in an 8-man game, but two or three plays here and there and it can make it a one-score game.”

Carney said North Shelby’s hurry-up offense that gained about 5-6 yards per play affected Paris as players were getting tired, but this led to a few Coyotes having monster defensive games. Gatlin Fountain led with 22 tackles and five tackles for loss, Reid Ragsdale followed with 12 tackles and four tackles for loss, and Chase Kendrick had 11 tackles and two tackles for loss.

“We knew they were good and were going to run the ball a lot,” Carney said. “I don’t really like getting into too many shootouts, but we tried to slow it down a bit more on offense, give our kids a little chance to rest and try to slow the pace down a little bit. We knew it was going to be a tough test as they were very seasoned and were big up front.”

Carney said he liked how Paris didn’t back down from a program in its eighth year of having 8-man football. He said the Coyotes were close to connecting two passes for touchdowns but those were also moments the Coyotes fell just short.

“We knew it was going to be a tough test as they were very seasoned and were big up front,” Carney said. “Our kids just never backed down.”

Paris plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Northland Christian (1-2).