Sandusky Register Version: The last time Hopewell-Loudon lost a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game was 2019. That 31-game win streak came to an end Friday as Margaretta's Kale Bailey caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Jake Bouy with 12 seconds left as the Polar Bears upset the No. 2 Chieftains, 29-26. “We just waited for him to get open in the back of the end zone there… but Jake played awesome. It's probably the best game he's ever played,” Margaretta coach Gary Quisno said. “We made the big plays and plays when we needed to. We played a great game and we beat a hell of a football team. They're well-coached, big, strong… we had trouble running the ball, but thankfully we made some plays. “We had great returns, great kicking game, three field goals and kicking it down and pinning them back into their side of the field. We just played a complete game. Even when we got down, our guys kept battling and got the job done.” Margaretta (6-1, 4-0 SBC River) got the offense going right away as Bouy drilled a 24-yard field goal on the opening drive. Then, he tacked on a 27-yard field goal to give the Polar Bears a 6-0 lead in the second quarter. H-L finally responded as Jaysin Cramer broke a 56-yard run to the end zone, but the extra point missed. Cramer gave H-L a 12-6 lead after a three-yard score later in the half and then Bouy nailed a 20-yard kick just before half. Special teams were key for the Polar Bears and they had a clear advantage over H-L. Those special teams showed up huge to begin the second half after a quick three-and-out for H-L (6-1, 3-1). Margaretta's Zack Bouy ran the punt return back 56 yards for the score. Both offenses kept scoring as Brody Brickman ran in a two-yard score for H-L. Margaretta responded as Jake Bouy ran in a four-yard touchdown and Brickman scored again on a three-yard touchdown run with just 2:12 left. But the Polar Bears had the final say. “We believed all week. The guys came out and played good, physical football all year. They were big up front, but we made big plays throwing the ball and in the kicking game, thank God,” said Quisno with a smile. Advertiser-Tribune Version: It had been since 2019 the last time Hopewell-Loudon lost a SBC River game. That 31-game win streak came to an end Friday night as Margaretta's Kale Bailey caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Jake Bouy with 12 seconds left as the Polar Bears upset the No. 2 Chieftains, 29-26. “We just waited for him to get open in the back of the end zone there … but Jake played awesome. It's probably the best game he's ever played,” Margaretta coach Gary Quisno said. “We made the big plays and plays when we needed to. We played a great game and we beat a hell of a football team. They're well coached, big strong … we had trouble running the ball, but thankfully we made some plays. “We had great returns, great kicking game, three field goals and kicking it down and pinning them back into their side of the field. We just played a complete game. Even when we got down, our guys kept battling and got the job done.” Margaretta (6-1, 4-0 SBC River) got the offense going right away as Bouy drilled a 24-yard field goal on the opening drive. Then tacked on a 27-yard field goal to give the Polar Bears a 6-0 lead in the second quarter. H-L (6-1, 3-1) finally responded as Jaysin Cramer broke a 56-yard run to the end zone, but the extra point missed. Then Cramer gave H-L a 12-6 lead after a 3-yard score later in the half and then Bouy nailed a 20-yard kick just before half. However, special teams were key for the Polar Bears and they had a clear advantage over H-L. Those special teams showed up huge to begin the second half as after a quick three-and-out for H-L out of the half, Margaretta's Zack Bouy ran a punt return back 56 yards for a score. “We broke down on defense too many times, but they just outplayed us,” H-L coach Brian Colatruglio said. “They played a great game, had a great game plan and their kids out-executed our kids tonight. This isn't a fluke. They have really good players and really good coaches and they outplayed us. “Honestly, we hung in and made them kick some field goals, or this might've not even been a game.” After Margaretta grabbed a 16-12 lead after the punt return, both offenses kept scoring as Brody Brickman ran in a 2-yard score for H-L, but Margaretta responded as Jake Bouy ran in a 4-yard score, and then Brickman scored again on a 3-yard TD run with just 2:12 left. That was a 14-play drive that took almost eight minutes off the clock. But the Polar Bears had the final say in the final 2:03 of the game. “We believed all week. The guys came out and played good, physical football all year. They were big up front, but we made big plays throwing the ball and in the kicking game, thank God,” Quisno said with a smile. H-L's offense executed well in the second half and controlled the ball for almost the whole half, but Margaretta made big plays and kept the pressure on. Brickman – playing a Kellen Frankart role in the Wildcat because of Frankart's injury – really got the offense going in the second half. It's something to build off of, but it's been an awfully long time since the Chieftains have had to bounce back during the regular season. The last regular season loss for H-L came back in Week 6 of the 2022 season vs. Lima Central Catholic. The Chieftains had the third longest regular-season win streak in the state at 29 games. “We executed pretty well offensively and we did some good things. I don't think they stopped us in the second half, but we just couldn't get the stop at the end when we needed it. We were able to grind some things out and get some first downs … we controlled the ball in the whole second half, but those two special teams plays completely killed us, giving up a punt return for a touchdown and then we give up a long return on a kickoff. We have to get some things fixed. “Our last two losses ended our season, so we never really had a chance to fix things. Now, we have a chance to find out about our guys and it's been a while since we lost a regular season game. We haven't gone to practice after a loss in a long, long time … none of these guys have, so we're gonna have to go back to work. Our season is still in front of us and we know we're a really good football team. We'll go to work and see what we can get fixed.”