HOISINGTON — The Ellsworth football team fell to the Hoisington Cardinals 28-14 in the regional playoff game Nov. 1, ending the Bearcats’ season.

The game started out slowly. It seemed like it was difficult for the Cats to get anywhere on the field. Despite starting with the ball, Ellsworth wasn’t able to make any headway with it, practically crawling across the field.

The Cardinals struck first blood, and scored with 5:25 left in the quarter, and the game stalled out there. The first quarter ended 7-0, and neither team scored in the second.

Starting out in the third quarter, the story was still much the same. The Cats gained 2 yards, then 3, then 4, 4 again, 5 — they were hardly moving at all. The Cardinals, on the other hand, only expanded the lead with another touchdown. The third quarter ended 14-0. Hoisington.

All of the Cats’ big action happened in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals struck first and raised their score again, but this time, the Cats pounced. Only nine seconds after the Cardinal touchdown, senior Daxton Leiker scored from a staggering 84 yards away and finally put some numbers on the board, but with only 1:16 left in the game, the Cardinals scored once again.

With only that much time left, it was safe to say that victory was off the table for the Cats. Despite this, they still pushed onward and covered a lot of ground.

The seconds were ticking away, but the Cats found the resolve to cover 31 yards in one down. It was at this point something arguably pointless, but very cathartic, happened. Senior Landin Johnson, with 29 seconds left in his high school football career, scored his final touchdown for the Cats.

“I believe our players played as hard as they could the entire season,” head coach Josh Homolka said. “The seniors should be proud — they are 22-8 in the last three years. They helped put this program in a really positive situation moving forward for (the) next year and years to come.

“The seniors trusted and believed in the process for four years and they leave with one of the winningest three-year periods going back to 1956.”

The Cats’ season came to an end with a 5-4 season record, placing them 105th in the state.