By KEVIN WANNEMACHER

Sportswriter

HUDSON – Paulding took the long bus ride to Hudson on Saturday for a non-league battle with host Western Reserve Academy, a private boarding school in the northeast corner of the state.

Unfortunately for the visiting Panthers, the host Pioneers’ Griffin Trau connected on a 38-yard field goal with 1:10 left in the contest to give Western Reserve Academy a 27-26 victory over the maroon and white.

It was a heartbreaking defeat for the local squad, who had battled back from a 10-point second half deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter.