But it wasn’t to be.

Parker Persing’s pass along the far sideline fell incomplete, Line Mountain iced the game a few plays later with a first down and Montgomery fell, 20-14, to Line Mountain to end a phenomenal season.

“We came out and we were physical, just like we have been. They definitely played hard,” Montgomery coach Joel Knoebel said.

At times, Montgomery was the better team on Friday night, most notably during a 17-play drive that bridged the first and second quarters after Line Mountain took an early lead on a five-yard run by Dalton Schadel on a fake field goal after the Red Raiders muffed a punt. But that 17-play drive would result in zero points when Trace Furman was stopped for a loss of one on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

LARRY DEKLINSKI/Special to the Sun-Gazette Montgomery’s Gage Furman tackles Henry Malfara in the Class A championship, Friday, in Mandata.

Two plays later, Montgomery received what may have been a huge break.

Line Mountain quarterback Kayden Maurer kept the ball on a read option play and appeared to break into the clear for what would have been a 97-yard touchdown. But officials incorrectly thought that he had handed the ball off to Evan Lenker and blew the play dead when Lenker was brought down. Montgomery players stopped playing at the whistle and Line Mountain fans were completely upset.

A few plays later, Trace Furman set up the Red Raiders with good field position after intercepting a pass, but Montgomery was unable to capitalize and turned it over on downs.

Montgomery would find a way into the end zone late in the first half when Josh Knoebel hit the whole hard on an inside counter play and dragged a would-be tackler just enough to get into the end zone from 23 yards out with 1:41 remaining in the first half. And, when they picked off another pass on the ensuing Eagle drive, it looked like they were set up to score and take a halftime lead. The Line Mountain defense stiffened, however, and the game went to halftime tied at 7.

The Red Raiders — who had run 34 plays in the first half against a Line Mountain defense that was showing signs of fatigue — forced a quick three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half and started shredding Line Mountain on the ground. But two crucial penalties, one that erased a third-and-nine conversion on a long run, stalled the drive and they were forced to punt just as it looked like they were about to take control of the game.

LARRY DEKLINSKI/Special to the Sun-Gazette Montgomery’s Parker Persing attempts to elude Line Mountain’s Bryce Smeltz in the Class 1A Championship, Friday, in Mandata.

“We told them coming into the game, we got to play mistake free football. Mistakes made the difference,”

Line Mountain capitalized, and took the lead on a 55-yard touchdown catch by Hank Malfara after converting a 4th and 1 on the previous play. But, as they did nearly all night, the Red Raiders had an immediate answer. Briar Persing picked up a squib kick and returned it all the way down the left side line to immediately tie the game back up at 14-14.

The Red Raiders would soon find themselves behind, once again. A 14-play drive that featured two fourth-down conversions and a crucial 31-yard pass to to Malfara on third-and-13 ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Maurer to Bryce Smeltz on a strike to the front corner in the end zone on third-and-5. The extra point was no good, however, and the score remained 20-14.

Montgomery turned it over on downs on the ensuing drive, but quickly forced a fumble, giving them a chance with one final drive from their own 35-yard line with 5:28 left in the game.

The Red Raiders moved the ball to midfield and faced a second-and-5 from midfield with three-and-a-half minutes to go. But, the drive stalled out, and when Persing’s desperation heave hit the turf, the game was all but decided.

“We liked where we were at going into halftime. We didn’t have the yards-per-carry average we’ve had all season, but we were still somewhere around three to four yards a carry. We were moving the ball, but credit to them. They stopped us when it mattered inside the red zone,” Knoebel said. “We couldn’t capitalize in the first half, and in the second half they made good adjustments to all our formations. Give them credit. They’re a well-coached team, and their adjustments were effective. We still moved the ball, just not consistently. We had our moments, but missed a block here or a read there, and that was the difference in the game.”

While it didn’t end the way they wanted to, it was still an incredible season. Montgomery won ten games for the first time since 1987 and were a whisker away from winning the first district title in school history. Eleven seniors will graduate, but a mighty strong group of underclassmen remain to make another run next season.

“I told them out there tonight, ‘seniors, thank you. You laid the foundation for what winning looks like.’ Now we need to use this as motivation,” Knoebel said. “Every underclassman out there tonight needs to get back in the weight room on Monday, get back to work, and be ready to come back here next year for a different result.”