Ahhh the postgame life and often curse of a coach.

They always play things over in their minds, whether they win or lose – but especially when they lose.

Souhegan football mentor Robin Bowkett is no different. He knows he took a shot in the second quarter of Saturday’s Division II championship 31-21 loss to Trinity that might not have been the best idea. And the worst result happened.

The Sabers, up 14-7 with under five minutes to go, had been given a gift, a tipped interception by Brody Smith of a pass from Trinity QB Ollie Serviece. The way things were going, the Sabers could have milked the clock with a scoring march and possibly gone into the half up 21-7.

Instead, on the very next play, Saber QB Michael Fiengo lofted a deep pass to Smith, but it more or less was a 50-50 ball that wound up in Service’s hands for a turnover right back. Two plays later Trinity back Davey Durepo went around the edge – a weakness the Sabers had all game – and flew 73 yards for a tying touchdown. The game was never the same.

Bowkett knows he likely made a mistake.

“We should’ve been running the ball, killing clock,” he said. “And then maybe 21-7; 14-7 you’re still in good shape. But you know we gambled, took a shot, it just didn’t work out. We took shots last week (in the semis vs. Pelham) and they worked out.

“It’s going to eat at me, it’s going to eat at me for awhile.”

That’s why we love Bowkett. He’s as honest and as transparent as it gets, his playes love him and he gives that right back. But everyone was finding out that Trinity wasn’t like Pelham. A whole different deal.

Service was a thorn in the Sabers side. He’s going to UMass Amherst as a baseball outfielder, and he played a great center field on that play.

“I was obviously very disappointed, I thought I let my team down with that interception so I knew I had to get the ball back somewhow,” Service said. “It wasn’t even really my zone. … They have a great quarterback with a good arm . I saw him throw it up. I said ‘I’ve got to go up and get that ball.’ I thought that shifted momentum immediately. We scored and we rolled from there.”

“Ollie’s just a terrific leader,” Trinity coach Rob Cathcart said. “He’s not only a terrific quarterback he’s also making the calls on defense to adjust our secondary. … We felt like when we needed a big play all game we were getting them.”

There were a couple of other what-ifs for the Sabers. Raudelunas, who was held to a season low 25 yards, saw a 65-yard TD in the first half called back due to a hold. And on the last play of the half, he somehow came down with a pass vs. two defenders, got free and was about to score before getting pummeled by Trinity’s Connor Bishop at the 1-yard-line.

“I saw the ball in the air go to another receiver, (Raudelunas) and he broke a tackle or two, it was really a nice catch by him and a great play,” Bishop said. “I knew we needed to prevent him from getting in the end zone right there. It’s a huge momentum play, and a play that really matters. So I was just going down there and hit him as hard as I could, I’m not going to lie. I couldn’t let him get into that end zone.”

Cathcart’s team was still in a 14-14 deadlock at halftime and he told his players to remember a three-game stretch that included a makeup game during the season when the games were tied at the half while they were dead tired.

“I said ‘We were used to this,'” he said. “Three games wearing these white jerseys when we were dog tired tied up with a team at halftime but we were used to that. And Souhegan is not used to that. This is foreign territory for them. So let’s take advantage of the fact we know this feeling and they don’t.”

Souhegan’s Brody Smith can’t reach a pass that falls into the arms of Trinity safety Ollie Service (5), a key play in Saturday’s Division II title game in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Again, not Pelham. Souhegan and a lot of teams now love the squib kicks, figuring they can get turnovers and on-sides recoveries. They don’t trust their special teamers to make the tackles deep. It was a weapon for the Sabers last week vs. Pelham, but the only thing those did yesterday was give the Pioneers a short field to work with.

“You’d like to place the ball in certain spots,” Bowkett said. “You’d like to kick it, if you have a guy who can kick it into the end zone, you’d love that too. But it’s what has got us here in the first place, our kids have done a really nice job. Sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way, and that’s kind of how it went today.”

Not the ending the Sabers were expecting. Trinity, in its second Division II year after winning it all in Division III, wasn’t going to back away. So a year after holding up a title plaque on Pinkerton’s Memorial Field, the Sabers were instead holding each other up to deal with disappointment and despair..

“I love these guys so much,” Bowkett said. “They’ve given so much to the program, to me, to their teammates…

“Winning is hard. Winning a championship is wicked hard.”

And losing a championship game is wicked painful.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com., or on X, @Telegraph_TomK.