The Pitman Pride varsity football team dropped their third straight game of the year after falling to Thomas Downey High on the road Friday in a 41-20 final.

With the loss, the Pride are off to a 1-3 start in pre-league games after their first four contests.

The Pride were coming off two close losses that were decided by a touchdown or less and were looking to get back on the winning track with a possible win over an undefeated Downey team that came into the game at 3-0, now 4-0.

The first half was a barrage of miscues and turnovers. Both sides managed to get two picks apiece and several sacks in a game that read 20-14 in favor of Downey at the half.

Downey got on the board first with a pick-six with 6:01 left in the first and took an 8-0 lead after a successful two-point conversion.

Antonio Reyes of Pitman then put the Pride on the board with a 14-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left in the first and cut the deficit to 8-7.

Jakob Partida of Pitman followed with a touchdown run of his own after breaking loose for four yards to make it 14-8 with 10:16 left.

Downey went on to score 12 unanswered points to go up 20-14 at halftime.

By the first half, Pitman had 160 yards of total offense while Downey had accumulated 190. The Pride also had two picks in the first half and a couple of sacks.

By the third, Downey had gone up 28-20 with 7:07 remaining and after a squib kickoff recovery, Downey marched on a short field position and tacked on another score going up 35-20 with 5:26 left in the third.

With five minutes remaining, Downey took the lead to go up 41-20.

By that point, the Pride had committed a total of six turnovers for the game.

Pitman was held to just 89 yards of offense in the second half.

They were also outscored 21-0 over the final 22 minutes.

The next game for the Pride will be at home against the Merced Bears at 7 p.m. Friday.