Long after the final play and long after the crowd had filed out of Walmer Field Friday, Nov. 8, many Lisbon football players loitered on the field.

The fourth-ranked Lions weren’t ready to go home after losing to No. 10 Madrid, 27-14, in a Class A quarterfinal playoff game.

“It is hard. Really hard,” senior Dakota Clark said. “I’m never going to strap them up again.”

“We love our field and we love playing at home,” Lisbon coach Dylan Hastings said. “This group of seniors did so much for our program. It sucks to lose. But you’ve got to take that with you and let it hurt.”

Eventually, they all made their way to the locker room.

“I don’t want to leave, either,” senior lineman Hayden Jackson said, then smiled. “But I’ve got to get home and eat.”

“I’m going to remember all the nimrods I went to battle with every Friday,” senior Tiernan Boots said.

The Lions tried to capture some of their state track magic (two-time champs) with some of the team dying their hair blonde like they had for running in Des Moines. Boots was involved in that process, that blonde ambition.

Madrid (9-2) took control early, using a 13-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown by quarterback Preston Wicker.

“That touchdown was definitely important,” Wicker said. “It gave us a lot of momentum and we felt like we could keep it rolling.”

Wicker finished with 218 yards of rushing on 29 carries, and 98 more yards passing. He scored all four Tiger touchdowns – three rushing and one passing.

“He’s a heck of a runner, and takes control of that offense,” Hastings said. If the senior from Madrid had a weakness, it was turning the ball over. He lost two fumbles and threw an interception.

Boots recovered one fumble and had an interception right before halftime. But the Lions couldn’t turn them into points.

“The ball was a little wet,” Wicker said. “But our defense being able to step up on those turnovers was definitely huge.”

Madrid led 13-7 at halftime. Lisbon took the opening drive of the second half down to the Tiger 13, then fumbled the exchange.

Madrid then went on a 9-play drive to make it 20-7 with 2:51 left in the third quarter. From potentially tying or leading to going down two scores … that was a turning point.

“Really as a team, we hadn’t been in that situation before,” Hastings said. “Maybe we start to hang our heads a little bit. You’ve got to fight some adversity.

“I’m proud of the way the boys continued to fight.”

The next Lisbon drive went to the Madrid 33 before an interception ended it.

“They came out and were very physical, and they shut down what we like to do,” Clark said. “Sometimes it doesn’t always go your way.”

The Tigers then went on a 13-play, 58-yard TD march. It was helped by a defensive holding call on fourth-and-5.

Lisbon finally found the end zone again on a 15-yard pass from Clark to Quinn Coleman with 3:26 left in the fourth quarter.

But the onside kick was covered up by Madrid’s Jake Sawyer. And even after forcing a three-and-out, the Lions couldn’t come up with a miracle drive.

“We got ourselves in trouble a lot,” Hastings said. “We had some bad field position stuff and couldn’t do what we wanted to do.”

Boots finished with 127 rushing yards on 19 carries for Lisbon (10-1). Clark had 94 passing yards and just 11 rushing yards.

“We did everything we could,” Boots said. “A couple plays we shot ourselves in the foot and Madrid was able to capitalize on that.

“We can usually match it with our offensive capabilities, but a couple penalties set us back and cut our momentum.”

Lisbon can still remember the undefeated regular season and District title.

“And how we dominated until today,” Jackson said. “Mainly, the domination part.”

“Not too many Lisbon teams have made it this far,” Hastings said. “I’m extremely proud.”

Madrid (9-2) plays West Hancock (11-0) at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, in the UNI-Dome. Saint Ansgar (10-1) and Tri-Center (10-1) are in the other semifinal.