Andre Harris scored four touchdowns for the Atchison Redmen in a losing effort at Pittsburg-Colgan in Pittsburg, Kan., on Friday night.

The Redmen had a chance to tie the game late, but their 2-point conversion failed and Colgan batted-down a Hail Mary to preserve the 28-26 win.

“The team is hurtin’ because they know it was a game we should’ve won,” said Atchison coach Jim Smith, whose brother Chuck coaches Colgan. “There were a lot of nerves. I didn’t think I’d be so nervous.”

Atchison opened things up with a 21-yard touchdown run by Harris on the team’s second drive of the game.

Colgan responded with a 34-yard touchdown pass, but Harris answered with a 34-yard reception for six from quarterback Charlie Schneider.

Colgan scored again in the second half to tie the game at 14, but Harris scored on a 5-yard slant in the end zone.

The Redmen failed on their 2-point conversion, and Colgan eventually took an 8-point lead.

The Redmen drove the length of the field and scored on a 6-yard slant to Harris, but Atchison could not convert on an option run to tie it. Atchison recovered an onside kick, but a last-second bomb to the end zone didn’t find any Redmen hands.

“The situation is that they know that this is the regular season, and we’ve still got districts to go,” Smith said. “We just have to keep plugging away. We’re playing well, and there’s plenty of games that could’ve gone either way — and this was one of them.”

Smith said that he and his brother talked often prior to their first time squaring off on the sidelines.

“Nobody felt worse than he did,” Smith said of Chuck’s response following the game. “He said that he was glad that he won but that it doesn’t feel that good. It was a great game — a fantastic game.”

The Redmen will look to have another fantastic game — one in which they come out on top for their second win of the season — next Friday against Mill Valley.

Sports reporter Hank Layton can be reached at hanklayton@npgco.com