Days later, Zionsville football coach Larry McWhorter still couldn’t find an all-encompassing explanation for Friday night’s 28-24 loss at West Lafayette Harrison.

The Eagles went in 4-1 and were coming off a big win at Westfield. The Raiders were 1-4 and had just been thrashed at Class 5A No. 6 Fishers. But with a 49-yard pass from T.K. Rock to Logan Rogers, Harrison took a 28-24 lead in the final minute and hung on for the upset.

So was it injuries at tailback, which kept Paul Gabor out and held Alex Woodard to just four carries?

“I don’t think so,” McWhorter said. “When you have general execution problems, where one team really picks it up and the other team doesn’t meet that . . . I don’t think it matters who you put in the backfield at that point.”

Were the Eagles looking ahead to their game against Fishers this Friday?

“You hope not,” McWhorter said. “Our team has really been pretty mature and pretty narrow in their focus through the years, so I don’t think so. I’d be willing to accept that as an answer, but I just don’t think it’s true.”

Instead, McWhorter credited Harrison for its turnaround after the previous week, and pointed to a few things — including “communication problems” and the Eagles’ pass defense, which allowed 270 yards Friday — as possible explanations for the loss.

Whatever the reasons, though, McWhorter said he addressed them with his team in Saturday’s film session. There, they looked at and vowed to correct their mistakes. Also, McWhorter said, “I apologized for not having them prepared to play, and we’re moving on.”

Moving on will be tough, though, as Fishers (6-0) is rolling and fighting for a Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship (the Tigers are alone in first place). Should the Eagles win, they still have an outside shot at sharing the league title — but Fishers is a pretty big obstacle.

“I’m very impressed with their defense, especially their defensive front — maybe one of the better ones I’ve seen for quite some time,” McWhorter said. “They’re executing offensively in a variety of ways. . . . They seem to be able to run the ball, throw the ball, play action and just a variety of things, and that makes them difficult to defend. And good special teams people as well. Placekicking, return — pretty solid.”

One problem McWhorter doesn’t expect is a total team collapse. Not with this group, he said.

“I still think we’re together — I don’t see the team as disintegrated,” McWhorter said. “It’s just time to regroup, I guess.”