Loss You Never Forget

[CRF4Dan]

Be it a player, coach or fan, there is always that loss that you never forget. That loss that you close your eyes and remember more than any other. In most cases that loss comes in the playoffs but lets take the playoffs out of the equation... what regular season loss do you find it painful to remember?
Maybe it is a game that ended a perfect regular season or knocked you completely out of the playoffs. Maybe it is a loss where your coach was leaving and went out with the L instead of the W. Maybe it was a rivalry loss. Maybe it was a loss due to losing a star on the team.

Whatever the reason we as fans, coaches and players all have that loss that we never forget, what is yours and why?

 

[falcettik]

First, I admit any fan of Westfield has been fortunate, probably even spoiled, by the program's success. And, as you said, most of the really painful loses come in the playoffs. But there is one regular loss (and season) that sticks with me for several reasons. It was 2009, the first year the Bulldogs had a "down" year (at least for them) when they went 6-4 in the regular season. That year my son was a senior and it was the first of two seasons where the Patriot District flipped the script on the Concorde and was arguably a better district. The game was against R.E. Lee (who has since fallen totally off as a program) but they were pretty good that year and finished 9-4. The game came down to a late drive by Lee, who had a very good RB whose name I don't recall. Lee scored to pull within a point at 21-20, then decided to go for two. Their RB got the ball, was hit around the 3 yard line, then reached about the 1 yard line where a huge scrum formed. With probably 18 or more of the players on the field involved in pushing in that scrum, the refs let the pile push around for about 6-8 seconds with almost no movement (no forward progress, but no call either) until at the very last second the pile fell and the RB just made it into the end zone for a 22-21 Lee win. That loss followed on the heels of a 10-9 loss to Lake Braddock, the first time Westfield had ever lost to a Patriot District team, and dropped Westfield to 1-3 on the season which was, at that time, uncharted territory. Westfield would go on to lose to Woodson (Patriot District) the following week, before rallying to win the Concorde and then suffering another first, a loss to South County in the playoffs.

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

Unfortunately, for such a perennial powerhouse team, we have a hard time finishing our season.... Way too many games to list but 2019 was probably the hardest since I began following the Tigers...

The Westfield games were all hard-fought & each of them could have ended with a Smith Victory! Same for the Highland Springs game last year.

2019 Vs South County was hardest because the Tigers had multiple opportunities but things just didn't go their way. (Symptom of a very young team vs a mature one).

1. Missed Field Goal
2. Missed extra point
3. No call TD when the football appeared to cross the plane of the goal line.
4. TD called back on a holding call. (I saw a pancake block but oh well, it is what it is!)

If 2020 is fully played, I'm as optimistic as one can be that Smith will have yet another 15 game season. And hopefully, they won't have another year where 2 of their top players transfer out of the program!