MOKANE, Mo. - There are any number of factors that figured in and can be singled out to help explain the end to the South Callaway Bulldogs' perfect season.
What stands out prominently was a crazy special-teams play at the conclusion of Friday night's Class 2, District 5 semifinal clash with the Hermann Bearcats.
Hermann senior quarterback Garrett Leimkuehler picked up his own botched punt and raced 58 yards for a touchdown with 53 seconds left, then the No. 3 seed Bearcats withstood a late score by No. 2 South Callaway to preserve a stunning 26-20 victory.
The outcome - primarily Leimkuehler's TD on what seemed to be a questionable call by officials at first glance - left head coach Zack Hess and the Bulldogs in a daze. South Callaway, ranked ninth in Class 2, finished with a 10-1 record.
"I don't know where to start," Hess said after giving a final talk to his squad. "That's a new one for me - I'd never seen anything like that before."
Trailing 19-14 with 1 minute, 8 seconds to play, South Callaway summoned the defensive stop it needed and called its final timeout in forcing Hermann to punt from its own 45-yard line. The Bulldogs' prospects appeared to become even more promising when Leimkuehler stubbed the kick off the side of his foot.
The ball barely travelled past the line of scrimmage but then skipped backward off the FieldTurf. Leimkuehler snatched it up and took off downfield as players from both teams pulled up and stopped uncertainly.
Several defenders for the Bulldogs tried to chase down Leimkuehler, but he bolted into the end zone as a referee raised his arms to signal a touchdown. The officiating crew then huddled near midfield to sort out what had just occurred, but the play eventually stood.
According to the rule that was clarified to Hess, once the kick reversed direction and went backwards behind the line of scrimmage, it became a live ball that could be advanced by either team.
"We didn't get on the ball, they picked it up," Hess said. "It was just kind of lack of awareness in what was going on."
Hess also said he heard a whistle before Leimkuehler picked the ball up, which would have blown the play dead, but his protest went for naught.
"There's a lot going on, on the play," Hess said. " They're humans out there as officials, they're going to make mistakes, and maybe they didn't make a mistake. It just seems that way."
Now down by two scores, South Callaway desperately tried to rally. The Bearcats were called for roughing the passer on first down, moving the Bulldogs out to their own 44. Junior quarterback Landon Horstman then hooked up with junior running back Kaden Helsel on a 49-yard catch-and-run down inside Hermann's 10.
On the next play, Horstman fired a 7-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jarrett Livengood with :30 left. Senior kicker Dakota Kraft's extra-point attempt, though, bounced off the goalpost, leaving South Callaway behind by six points.
The Bulldogs followed with an onside kick, but the ball didn't travel 10 yards and Hermann took possession at South Callaway's 49. Leimkuehler then took a knee as time ran out on the Bulldogs' postseason hopes.
"(The players) can let this fester and be bitter about it, and not forget about it in a bad way," Hess said. "Or they could use this as motivation. The idea is not to allow the game to get to that point where one play is the deciding factor.
"It may or may not have been, but it was a big play."
South Callaway built a 14-0 lead in the second quarter behind a 33-yard option pass for a touchdown from sophomore wingback Peyton Leeper to Helsel, followed by Helsel's 43-yard scoring run. The Bearcats trimmed their deficit in half when junior running back Trent Oberg scored from 4 yards out with 1:26 to go in the first half.
Hermann closed within 14-13 on Leimkuehler's 4-yard touchdown run at the 8:33 mark of the third quarter. Leimkuehler then put the Bearcats in front to stay when he sprinted 24 yards for a score with 10:53 to play in the game.
The second half was framed by a glaring offensive imbalance as Hermann - behind its massive front line - controlled the clock while running 37 plays, to just 16 for the Bulldogs. Leimkuehler gained 108 of his game-high 174 yards in the final 24 minutes and the Bearcats rushed for 299 yards as a team on 71 total carries.
South Callaway, meanwhile, was held to a season-low 67 yards rushing in only 25 attempts. The Bulldogs also wasted a pair of prime scoring opportunitities, twice turning the ball over on downs inside Hermann's 10.
"Our defense was on the field a lot," Hess said. "It was one of those games where when we needed big stops in the first half, we got them, and in the second half we struggled getting those big stops.
"They (Bearcats) did a great job of running the ball and picking up those first downs, and eating up the time of possession. There wasn't a whole lot we could do."
Hermann will now move on to a trip this week to top-seeded Brentwood (9-1) and a showdown for the District 5 championship. The Eagles flattened No. 4 seed Father Tolton 42-18 in Friday night's other semifinal.