The Old Golds fell 32-17 in Te Kuiti on Saturday, a loss that puts their Lochore Cup playoffs bid to bed.
They slipped to 11th on the table, three spots away from playoff contention on nine points for the season.
It will be the first time since 1999 that the Old Golds have missed the playoffs.
North Otago had a strong first half, and looked good for most of the game in a big defensive effort.
But the Rams kept them scoreless in the second half in what became a bun fight between the two.
It really all unravelled in the final 10 minutes with the Rams leading 18-17.
North Otago co-captain Mat Duff was sent to the bin for collecting Kieran Rollison when he went to charge down his clearance.
That lead to a lengthy delay as Rollison was stretchered from the field, and it fired up the Rams.
The Old Golds got out from their end only for the ball to land in Zach Wickham-Darlington’s arms.
He weaved his way through the Old Golds defence to score from 30m out.
Replacement front rower Tom Ryan bustled over with seconds to spare to cement the 32-17 lead.
King Country had earlier taken a 3-0 lead.
But 5m from the line, Old Golds halfback Jake Matthews took a quick tap and caught King Country sleeping to score.
North Otago looked to keep the ball alive and were never afraid of offloading in the tackle.
King Country found themselves just shy of the line, but a brilliant defensive effort from the Old Golds caused King Country to knock the ball on in the tackle.
The Rams eventually broke through in the last 10 minutes of the first half through Wickham-Darlington.
But the Old Golds hit back.
Matthews grabbed the ball from the back of the rolling maul 5m out and dished off a lovely ball to Dyer, who scored.
Dyer then banged over a penalty to give the Old Golds a 17-8 lead at halftime.
Hedley kicked a penalty for the Rams to start the second half and close the gap to 17-11.
Under penalty advantage, Dyer went to chip kick and was taken out by Maximus Dunster,who was yellow carded.
Lock Kasimila Vaihu was held up from a quick tap.
King Country had some good ball, but could not break through.
But when the Old Golds swung the ball wide, winger Jamie Mullan bobbled the ball which landed in the hands of Hedley.
He took off to score in the corner and added the extras to give the Rams a 18-17 lead.
It was an unlucky momentum swing for North Otago, who had most of the ball but still let the Rams in when they were a player down.
The Rams won a penalty over the ball and things started to go the home sides way for the final quarter.
The Old Golds had plenty of ball in their danger zone, but frustratingly kept handing it back to the Rams with their poor handling.
South Canterbury kept their unbeaten run alive with a 32-15 win over East Coast, Thames Valley thumped Poverty Bay 71-17, Whanganui punished Horowhenua Kapiti 72-28, Mid Canterbury beat Buller 59-14, and Wairarapa-Bush edged West Coast 38-31.
Heartland Championship
The scores
King Country 32
Zach Wickham-Darlington 2, Patrick Hedley, Tom Ryan tries; Hedley 3 con, 2 pen
North Otago 17
Jake Matthews, Greg Dyer tries; Dyer con 2, pen
Halftime: North Otago 17-8.
