CATLIN — A stunned crowd filed out of the football stands at Catlin High School on Saturday, many making their way to the edge of the field to thank the Salt Fork Storm one last time for a successful season.

But the final send-off happened a few weeks too soon. Following an impressive undefeated regular season and a deep playoff run that saw the Storm come up just short of a state championship game invitation last year, hopes and expectations were high for the 2009 postseason.

Making it out of the first round of the IHSA Class 1A playoffs was the least of their worries. The program’s history said it would happen. But the tears shed and stunned looks of frustration following a 10-0 loss to Hardin Calhoun said otherwise.

“I think that’s why we lost. Everybody expected a win,” senior wingback Lance Hubbard said. “No one wanted to earn a win. We came out and, Salt Fork always makes it past the first round. Today we just didn’t come prepared like we should have been. We didn’t earn a win, we earned a loss.”

The Calhoun Warriors (7-3) did something no other team the entire season had been able to do. The Storm (8-2) were held under 100 yards of total offense and more important, were kept off the scoreboard.

Averaging nearly 100 yards per game during the season, Hubbard was held to just 32 rushing yards, and Cody Davis managed only 47.

Even after Salt Fork was forced to punt after seven plays on its opening possession, the defense toughened up, and despite allowing a 17-play, 71-yard drive, it held the Warriors to a 27-yard field goal.

But the offense never got going.

“We pretty much expected the type of game that we got,” senior lineman Jake Manning said. “They are a very good team. They like to run it right up your throat. We just couldn’t get it done on offense. Our offensive line was struggling. Coach told us before the game that the offensive line was going to make or break this game for us and we just didn’t get it done.”

The Storm’s run-heavy offense attempted 11 passes in the game and put the ball in the hands of five different rushers searching for answers, but the Warriors’ defense never budged.

“It was a very frustrating game to not be able to move the ball and get some first downs and get some drives,” Salt Fork coach Brian Plotner said. “We never had a momentum play. Cody had a couple of runs and we maybe had a few passes that were positive passes.

“We picked a bad day to not execute offensively and to not do things. When you pick a bad day, you’re done. That’s something I know because I’m old and I’ve been around awhile, but the kids don’t figure that out until it’s too late. Unfortunately, now we’ve got to live with that.”

While the Storm’s group of 10 seniors realized what made their season come to an abrupt halt, its best wishes can only be played out through the returning players that might be able to learn from the setback.

The discussions and speeches from the captains following the season-ending loss all stressed never taking anything for granted and learning from the mistakes that cost the Storm another playoff run.

“Coach Plotner pointed out a few similarities that we had between this week and the Milford week,” Manning said. “I think we thought we were a pretty good team then and we got our (butts) kicked and we thought we were a pretty good team now and we got it handed to us again.

“Hopefully they’ll realize that no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better. You can always put more into it. Even if you think you are doing your best, you can always do more.”