The Bothell High Cougars worked their football talents to the hilt last Saturday — from start to finish.

One of the team’s first plays from scrimmage was a solid 20-yard pass from quarterback Braden Foley to Luke Proulx. That play paved the way for a Proulx 1-yard touchdown run some six minutes later to give the locals a 7-0 lead against Bellarmine Prep in the 4A state quarterfinals at Mount Tahoma High.

Things looked good from the get-go for Bothell.

However, a 21-0 Cougar lead evaporated as Bellarmine chipped away and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 20.6 seconds left to nail down a 28-21 victory.

It was a shocking turn of events and had us folks in the press box shaking our heads.

But the final 14.2 seconds showed resilient Bothell driving for a score — and probably giving Bellarmine a scare and the Cougar fans some hope. Foley connected with Trent Sewell on a 26-yard pass to the Lions’ 33-yard line, but then fired an incomplete pass into a crowd as time expired.

The Bothell tears flowed in disbelief at what transpired on the frigid field. About a half hour later, Bothell coach Tom Bainter and his team emerged from the locker room looking a bit dazed.

Bainter put a positive spin on Bothell’s season: “We do some good things here, I’m proud of our football team, I’m proud of the way they prepare, I’m proud of our coaching staff. You can’t win ‘em all, and when you don’t, it’s hard.”

On the shock of losing a game that Bothell controlled in the first half, he added: “When you give something that’s more important than yourself, and it ends, then the pain is greater. If the pain’s not great, then I’d be disappointed because we didn’t give it our all and we didn’t do what we set out to do. And we did, and in the end, we hope that we’re better men for it, and each of us maybe learned something about life that will help us later on.”

Senior Ryan Romeis said he can apply playing Bothell football to the classroom and beyond:

“In school, you always just work on what you can do. Don’t worry about if you did bad on a test, don’t look forward to something that’s gonna come down the road — just study your butt off and do your best. In life, do what you can to be the best person.”