The Unity Christian Lions fought to even their record at Model’s Death Valley Thursday night against the Paulding Panthers.

Their finishing kick never materialized though and Unity fell 24-13 to bring an end to a matchup that was nearly two-weeks in the making.

With each team a part of the Christian Schools Athletic Association and assured of a spot in the playoffs, Paulding secures the No. 3 seed in the postseason with the victory. Unity will be fourth.

The two programs were originally set to play on Sept. 25 in Hiram. The recent floods moved the game to Calhoun High on Sept. 26 where thunderstorms halted the game in the second quarter, forcing Thursday’s contest.

The Lions mounted a momentum-shifting drive at the end of the third quarter that appeared to give them the upper hand with them behind, 12-7.

But a high snap over Unity quarterback Jackson Bishop’s head on the Paulding 28-yard line ended up with a fumble recovery for Panther Jeremy Martin.

Paulding’s John Dillion then took the handoff to start the drive and ran 60-yards for the touchdown. The two-point pass was ruled incomplete but the 11-point lead was too much for the Lions to overcome.

The Panthers opened the scoring with a 52-yard punt return by Clark Gunn with 6:43 left in the first quarter.

Paulding was threatening to move the ball swiftly downfield until Unity’s Luke Lansdell intercepted the ball on his own 22-yard line.

The Lions (2-4) immediately displayed new life on offense and began consistently moving the ball into the red zone but were stuffed on the one-yard line by the Panthers’ adamant defense and turned the ball over on downs to start the second quarter.

Paulding got taken to task by Unity’s defense on the next drive and, after a tackle by Reece Bryant for a six-yard loss on third down, was forced to punt from deep in their own territory.

The kick was high and short and the Lions got to start on the Panthers’ 18. Josh Smith ran the ball into the end zone from 12 yards out on the second play of the drive and Andy Calvert made the extra point.

With Unity ahead 7-6 with 5:35 left in the first half, Paulding was unable to score again before the break.

Down 24-7 late in the game, the Lions got one last thrill on a long fumble return by Richard Cooper that led to a 23-yard touchdown pass from Bishop to Will Lundy.

Unity Christian will host Scottsboro Christian next Friday at a site yet to be determined.