Difficult loss to swallow

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
High school football seasons usually end in tears.
Champions cry tears of joy, everyone else cries when the realization that a goal will never be realized.
Mike Hasse and Russell Powell, two veteran linemen with a long history in the Hartselle program, fought off tears that came no matter how hard they tried as Hartselle players slowly left the field at J.P. Cain Stadium following a 13-6 loss to Russellville in the Class 5A state semifinals.
Same for quarterback Luke Bole. And David Reeves.
Starters cried, reserves cried.
Even Bob Godsey, the stoic Hartselle head coach choked up emotionally when he talked of players who had worked so hard to rewrite Tiger football history.
Twelve straight wins. A region championship. A perfect regular season.
Nice accomplisments, heck, even spectacular accomplishments. But the Tigers had one goal, one dream. To win a state championship.
A state championship?
Hartselle struggled to win four games last season, yet still managed to come within a single point of upsetting Cullman in the first round of the playoffs.
Four-win teams rarely come back a year later to win a state championship. But that was exactly the goal set by the Tigers before the season started.
This year’s team did not accept losing. They didn’t accept it last year and they certainly didn’t accept it Friday night.
Hartselle believed last season that it could beat Cullman, a team that had pounded them earlier in the season.
A year later, many of those same players - a year older with a year’s worth of experince - believed that Hartselle could beat Russellville after falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter against the Golden Tigers Friday night.
The words were meant to be soothing, but it’ll be some time before the pain fades.
That’s just a part of football.
Down the line, there will be pride in what they accomplished. But not now. Not yet.
Sports editor Todd Thompson can be reached at 773-6566 or at todd.thompson@hartselleenquirer.com