Trevor Espravnik wasn’t quite ready to take off his helmet.
There was a mix of pain and pride for the senior running back after Lowell’s 21-14 loss to visiting NorthWood in Friday night’s Class 4A semistate.
“We just kept playing hard, kept playing every down,” Espravnik said. “We’re a family, and we play for each other. A couple of plays didn’t go in our favor, but we kept our heads high and went out together.”
The game’s most pivotal play came late in the fourth quarter with the Red Devils (9-5) holding a 14-13 lead over the Panthers (14-0). On fourth-and-8 from Lowell’s 23-yard line with 2:31 left, NorthWood’s Trey Bilinski hit Bronson Yoder for 22 yards.
On the next play, Bilinski scored on a keeper with 1:53 left, and he added a conversion pass to Yoder.
That NorthWood drive began at its 41 with 5:07 left and was aided by a personal foul call on Lowell on a third down that moved the ball to the Red Devils’ 25.
Lowell’s defense, which was outstanding throughout the season and the game, couldn’t come up with one final stop.
“They got the matchup they wanted,” Lowell coach Keith Kilmer said of the fourth-down play. “They got their athlete on one of our inside linebackers, and there wasn’t much we could do. You play over the top, you’ve played the entire game, we were worn down at the end. The same kids put us in position to win too.
“It was a chess game, and our defensive coordinator did a great job putting our kids in position to make plays. It comes down to whose athletes are better, and for 99 percent of the game, our kids were.”
Lowell had a last chance, taking possession at its 34 with 1:52 left. But at their 49, the Red Devils, who committed two false start penalties on the series, threw an interception to Yoder with 39 seconds left.
Lowell had taken a 14-7 lead on Espravnik’s 1-yard TD with 8:29 left in the third quarter. On the opening possession of the second half, he had 61 yards on eight carries and finished with 186 yards on 43 carries.
“He’s a workhorse,” Kilmer said. “Games like this, you try to go superhuman, and the team that can be the most normal is going to be the most successful. That’s what he did in the second half. He started running hard, giving us 4 yards, instead of trying to hit the home run.”
NorthWood answered with a long kickoff return and a fourth-down conversion before Bilinski hit DeAndre Smart for a 9-yard TD with 4:55 left in the third. But the Panthers missed the extra point to maintain the Red Devils’ 14-13 lead.
The score was tied 7-7 at halftime, as each team posted an unconventional touchdown.
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NorthWood took a 7-0 lead with 5:50 left in the first quarter when Brayton Yoder converted on fourth down and fumbled, and Drew Minnich recovered in stride, racing 30 yards for the TD.
Lowell tied the score on a special teams play with 1:31 left in the half. Chandler Austgen partially blocked a punt, and Logan O’Hanlon scooped up the ball, sprinting 31 yards for the TD.
Lowell had won seven straight games before Friday.
“It’s awesome to get here,” Espravnik said. “We were 2-4, and a weaker team could’ve played their 10 games and just finished. But we kept fighting. We came together and became regional champs. It hurts now, but later on we’re going to remember what we did.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff