A game in late-August is just the start to a season that Stillwater and Lakeville North hope goes until mid-November.

Both teams enter the season ranked in the top 10 after each lost in the state quarterfinals last season and have expectations of getting at least that far again this year.

The Panthers are off to a better start.

Sam Ripplinger scored a minute into the game, Lakeville North got two late scores and beat Stillwater 27-7 on Thursday in a semi-soggy season-opening matchup of Class 6A heavyweights that wasn’t so much about the two highly touted signal callers.

Rather it was the guys behind Stillwater’s Nick Kinsey and Lakeville North’s Riley Grossman who garnered much of the game’s yardage. Ripplinger rushed for 174 yards for the Panthers; Emilio Rosario-Matias 139 yards for the Ponies.

But the key play was a huge stop by the Lakeville North defense.

Down 14-7 early in the fourth quarter, Stillwater quickly got to midfield. After a third-down stop by Carter Crawford, Gavin Casey stopped Kinsey a yard short of the sticks with 8:26 to play.

The next time Stillwater touched the ball, it was down two scores with less than three minutes remaining.

That’s because Ripplinger capped a 10-play, 53-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run.

Down by two scores, Kinsey was strip-sacked by Reece Hunt and Ethan Rozmarin recovered the ball in the end zone less than 30 seconds later to make the final score somewhat deceiving.

Stillwater turned the ball over three times. Lakeville North had zero.

For Lakeville North, its ground-and-pound running game is in good hands with Ripplinger behind an offensive line that was in control much of the night, and its defense was staunch against one of the state’s top passers.

Things could not have started out much better for the home team.

On the first play from scrimmage, Ripplinger took a handoff, burst up the middle, cut a bit to his left and was caught at the Stillwater 1-yard line. He scored from there on the next play.

Ripplinger ran for 812 yards — nearly 74 per game — and six touchdowns last season. Sawyer Wilkie and his nearly 1,500 yards graduated, meaning Ripplinger is likely “the guy” this season.

Stillwater, unofficially, had 20 yards of offense in the first half, going three-and-out on five of its six series, and losing a fumble on the fourth play of the other.

Lakeville North had a chance to add to its lead after Roman Johnson recovered a Stillwater fumble, but turned the ball over on downs at the Ponies’ 26 midway through the second quarter.

Bouncing back, Grossman — a Minnesota Duluth commit — perfectly lobbed a pass to Lane Johnson for a 24-yard touchdown late in the frame for a 14-0 halftime lead.

Rosario-Matias, who led Stillwater with 727 rushing yards last season, was responsible for 78 yards of an 80-yard scoring drive that got Stillwater within a score early in the third quarter.

His 48-yard dash to the end zone included a couple of broken tackles and a late burst of speed.

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