A biting chill, a whipping wind — and Bellarmine Prep.

That’s what Bothell High was faced with this afternoon in the 4A state quarterfinals at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma.

Bellarmine’s quarterback Sefo Liufau stared the Cougars down with 20.6 seconds remaining and unleashed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Michael Rector to stage a stunning comeback and 28-21 victory in front of a screaming home side.

Rector’s third touchdown reception — which saw him diving for the ball at the back of the end zone — and an ensuing two-point conversion capped a string of 28 unanswered points for the Lions (11-1).

“Everybody came to play, everybody played hard. There’s a few mistakes we could have done without, but you know what? It’s football, so anything can happen on any given day and on any Saturday,” said Bothell junior safety Austen Dahl.

Bothell’s season ends with a 9-3 record, but the Cougars came out strong with a 13-play, 70-yard drive that ate up more than half of the first quarter and concluded with a Luke Proulx 1-yard touchdown run. Proulx tacked on a 56-yard running score in the second quarter and quarterback Braden Foley connected with Brad Monson for a 4-yard touchdown pass to give Bothell a 21-0 lead with 3:20 left in the first half. (Proulx suffered a dislocated left elbow and left the game near the end of the third quarter.)

Bellarmine tightened up its defense after scoring at the end of the first half, as the Lions’ next two scores followed an interception and a fumble recovery. Bellarmine had Bothell’s defense on the ropes on its game-winning drive, which featured a fourth-and-four conversion on an 8-yard pass to Rector and 11- and 6-yard runs, respectively, by Isaiah Flynn and Liufau to set up the final score.

“It was tough like any person would expect. We fought and we executed to the best of our ability, but it just seemed like it wasn’t enough. We did our best and there’s nothing else that any of us could ask for,” said Bothell senior lineman Dallas Gosselin.

Bothell senior lineman Ryan Romeis, who planted Liufau into the ground on a sack in the first half, added: “One of the things that we’ve always talked about is never give up, give it your all, no matter what happens. Don’t focus on what just happened, don’t focus on what you think’s gonna happen in the future, just play this play and worry about what’s happening right now.

“Do what you can to be the best person, and you know, we learned a lot of life lessons together, especially this team growing together as family.”