POTOSI – As if he didn’t believe it the first time, Mark Siegert spent the next seven hours after last Friday night’s 36-0 level-three playoff loss to visiting Black Hawk/Warren watching the game film in hopes of understanding just what he witnessed earlier that evening.

Even after calling it a night around 4 a.m., the coach of the Potosi/Cassville football team wasn’t any closer to an explanation than when the final seconds of his team’s season ticked away.

Having beaten the Warriors during the regular season, 41-20, only makes last Friday night’s 36-0 loss even more baffling, considering it was the Chieftains who were playing shorthanded back on Sept. 30.

“I don’t know. I watched film and I still don’t know what difference there is,” Siegert said after the game. “That’s what Black Hawk/Warren does, and we were prepped for that.”

“Nothing that they did was surprising. When it comes down to X’s and O’s, I didn’t see anything different,” Siegert added. “Now, was their energy different from week seven to week 12? Yah, there was a big energy bump.”

The differences in energy and physicality were evident from the start of Friday night’s division 7 playoff game, as Black Hawk/Warren scored touchdowns on three of their four first-half possessions, while shutting out a normally potent Potosi/Cassville offense.

The Warriors held a 20-0 lead at the half, and followed with a score on their first possession of the second half to take a 28-0 lead over their hosts. Another score with 25 seconds to play in the third quarter gave Black Hawk/Warren a 36-0 advantage, and put into affect the continuous clock for the entire fourth quarter.

“It didn’t seem like we matched that energy, and I don’t know why,” Siegert said. “I feel bad for the kids and somewhat responsible, because I really try to get the kids to take it one week at a time, and we talk about football being an evolution and that we’re not going to see the same team that we did in week seven.”

“This was a brand new game, a brand new opportunity, and it doesn’t matter if we won or lost in week seven, it matters if we win in this two-and-a-half-hour timeframe,” Siegert added. “For some reason, I did a poor job of getting that message across, because we didn’t perform well. We just weren’t making plays like we had normally done, and it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

While the Warriors scored touchdowns on their first two offensive possessions and converted on 3-of-5 third-down conversions and 1-of-2 fourth-down conversions, the Chieftain offense had their struggles in the first half.

Forced to punt on two of their five first-half possessions, the Chieftains were stopped on a fourth-and-three from the 41-yard line, and on a fourth-and goal from the four, while having one drive end on an interception.

Coming into Friday night’s level-three playoff game, the Chieftains averaged 37.5 points per game, and the closest they’ve come from being shutout was a 41-8 loss to Darlington in week three.

The trio of Eli Adams, Roman Friederick and Braden Fishnick combined to average 327.1 yards rushing per game this season, but were held to a combined 108 rushing yards last Friday night. 

Adams, who averaged 129.6 yards per game this season, finished with 56 yards on 12 carries last Friday night. Friederick, who averaged 117.2 yards per game, was limited to 42 on a team-high 14 carries, while Fishnick, who averaged 80.2 yards per game, had just 10 yards rushing on three attempts.

Through the air, Fishnick completed 3-of-12 passing attempts for 36 yards and was picked off twice. Adams had one passing attempt, which was also picked off by the Warrior defense.

“We always talk about controlling the line of scrimmage, and that has to get taken care of, and for whatever reason they were controlling the line of scrimmage, it’s obvious from the numbers,” Siegert explained.

After being limited to 170 yards rushing and 71 yards passing in their first meeting with the Chieftains earlier this season, the Warriors rushed for 348 yards and four touchdowns last Friday night, while completing all three passing attempts for 59 yards and another score.

“I wish I had the answers. I feel really badly for the kids,” Siegert said. “I felt like going into the game we were ready and we were prepared. We worked as hard as we did any other week, and it was just a matter of them playing an outstanding game. Offensively, defensively and special teams, they didn’t make a mistake. Outside of maybe a penalty, they just didn’t make a mistake.”

Leading the Potosi/Cassville defense with 16.5 tackles was Isaiah Groom, followed by Roman Friederick with 7.5 and Ezra Groom with 6.5.

During the moments between suffering their season-ending loss and spending hours watching the game film, coach Siegert spent some time consoling his team, especially the eight seniors who played in their final high school game.

“That’s who I feel the worst for, because they put so much work into it and checked so many boxes,”Siegert said of his eight seniors. “Their leadership qualities are just outstanding. They came to work every day and I can’t think of one day where we had a poor practice.” 

“It was just always a great environment that they helped create, and that’s all you can ask a senior class to do,” Siegert added. “I just really, really am proud of these guys. They’re just one of a kind and I’ll certainly miss all of them, and we’ll miss them as a program.”

The Chieftains conclude the 2023 season with an overall record of 10-2, capturing this year’s Six Rivers conference title with an unblemished record of 5-0.

“Undefeated conference champions and able to make it to level-three, most teams would be really, really happy with that,” Siegert said. “We, I guess are fortunate, because that is just good now for us. Now we would love to get over that hump, because it’s been awhile since we’ve been on the biggest stages.”