DANVILLE — Finish.

That was the Danville football motto this season.

The Vikings committed to that simple statement 386 days ago when they walked off the field at Normal Community High School after a 7-0 loss to the Ironmen in the 2008 IHSA Class 6A playoffs.

“Everything we did this offseason was focused on finishing, from the weight room to running sprints,’’ Danville senior Mario Crosby said before the season.

That extra effort and hard work was rewarded with the school’s first outright Big 12 title since 1995.

It also carried over into the playoffs as Danville rallied to beat Oak Lawn Richards and Lemont to make the semifinals for the first time since 1978.

But on Saturday, the dream of a Class 6A state title came to an end at the hands of the top-rated New Lenox Providence Catholic Celtics, 30-21.

It wasn’t the ending that anyone wearing maroon and white wanted, but it shows just how far this program has progressed in five seasons.

And Crosby summed it up best.

“We finished with the best of abilities and that’s all that matters,’’ he said. “As long as we all tried hard and did our best, I didn’t really care about the outcome.

“But, it hurts now that it’s over.’’

Of course it hurts and it should.

Any time you put your heart and soul into something like this and you devote as much of yourself as this team did — the pain is going to be there.

“Heartbroken” and “demolished” were the emotions that senior Cameron Ford felt in the locker room.

“We played hard. We did what we wanted to do, well, we didn’t do exactly what we wanted to do, but we made goals and we made strides for future teams here and for this community,’’ he said. “I’m always going to think about this game. I don’t have doubts about it, but I’m heartbroken that we couldn’t make that final push to a state championship.

“We left it out there and they were better than us tonight.’’

A little over a year ago, this Danville program left Normal with a bitter taste in its mouth.

This year, the Vikings football season ends with disappointment, but there is an overriding emotion of pride that everyone will remember 20 years from now.

“We did something for this community,’’ said Ford, an all-stater both on and off the football field. “It wasn’t about us at all. It was about this community. I feel good for this community. We are always going to be a team that will be talked about here.

“I just wish we could have taken that extra step for them.’’

Danville coach B.J. Luke, a 1972 graduate, admitted this has been a win-win year for his team and the Danville community.

“This is my most rewarding team that I’ve ever coached,’’ he said. “The kids came out, fought and played hard. It was really a great effort, I’m really proud of them.

“I don’t think anyone gave us a chance to be in a football game like this. Our kids were in there until the end with opportunities to win the game. You can’t ask for more effort from our kids. I’m just really pleased and happy with the whole season.’’

Truly, how many people thought four years ago when this group of seniors started at Danville High School that they would cap their careers with a state semifinal appearance?

“I don’t know if I would have believed you,’’ Danville senior wide receiver Derrick Cunningham said. “Each year, coach helped us take step-by-step to get us to this point. It took a lot of hard work. Coach Luke is a great coach and he knew what he was doing.

“All of my respect goes out to him and my teammates.’’

Danville junior Justin March, who led the team with 19 rushing touchdowns and nearly 200 tackles this season, figures to be one of the leaders on next year’s team.

“This team came from hard work, we all worked together to get here. We came together as a family and we played hard all season,’’ he said. “This is our motivation for next year. We will have a goal of trying to be better.’’

As Luke stated during his team’s pep rally on Friday night, “we’ve just got a bunch of Danville kids that work hard.’’

That is, has been and always will be the backbone of this program.

“We have a bunch of kids from Danville that will get on a bus and play anybody and that’s fine by me,’’ Luke said. “I would get on the bus go with them again and play another one.’’

Unfortunately, this group of Vikings won’t get that chance, but they have shown everyone what it means to finish a job.