ERIE - With his team down by four touchdowns and inside the Erie McDowell 10-yard line late in the game, Trevor Gallo burst off right end and was stopped inside the 5.

The Slippery Rock High School senior's dash toward the end zone and ultimate failure to reach it was a microcosm of sorts for the Rockets' football season.

Some good. Some bad. A little short in the end.

Slippery Rock came up short one final time in 2004, losing to District 10 Quad A power McDowell 26-0 Friday night, despite hanging with the Trojans for most of the contest.

"That was a pretty good effort," said Slippery Rock coach Clyde Conti. "I thought we did some things. We were trying as hard as we could and, obviously, they were a better team than us. We weren't up to everyone else this year."

McDowell, who beat a team ranked in the USA Today Top 25 earlier this season, led 13-0 late in the first half when Slippery Rock quarterback Ben Collins and running back Sean Ray nearly hooked up on a 21-yard pass that would have cut deeply into the Trojan lead.

A touchdown there could have sent McDowell into the half scratching its head.

"Slippery Rock is a very good football team," said McDowell coach Tim Cacchione. "We were keeping some kids out in preparation for the playoffs next week and our timing was off."

The Rockets (3-6) were able to move the ball against the Trojans between the 20s, but they stalled once in range of the end zone.

Once again, a microcosm of the season.

"We just missed that one in the end zone," Conti said of the near-touchdown pass.

"We need to prepare better, and I put myself in that boat, too."

McDowell broke the game open when T.J. McGraw returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. What momentum Slippery Rock might have had coming out of the locker room was gone.

"That was a big play for us, a turning point," Cacchione said. "He's been making big plays for us all year."

Some of the biggest plays, though, were turned in by McDowell fullback Jayson White.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior rumbled for scores of 27, 12 and 49 yards and gained 141 yards on 17 carries.

"Jayson is going to be a Division I fullback," Cacchione said. "He's got 4.5 speed in the (40-yard dash) and he's an exceptional athlete."

White accounted for more than half of the Trojans' total yards.

"From scrimmage, we held that team down a bit," Conti said. "I'm really proud of how hard we played tonight."

Gallo rushed for 97 yards on 30 carries for Slippery Rock and eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

The senior, who was also a standout at linebacker, finished with 1,055 yards on 192 carries. He also led the team with eight touchdowns.

Gallo took the spot held by Travis Sarver last season. Sarver finished the 2003 season with more than 1,400 yards and a share of the Butler Eagle scoring trophy.

Gallo was the main blocker out of the backfield for Sarver as the Rockets went 12-2 and came within a quarter of advancing to the state title game.

"We were able, in essence, to replace our running back with Trevor," Conti said. "But we weren't able to replace Trevor."

Now Gallo and the rest of the senior are gone. Despite having timeouts available late, Conti didn't take them as Gallo tried to bull in from inside the McDowell 10.

"Stopping the clock is not what you do at the end to get one," Conti said.

Instead, Gallo and the Rockets fell just short, putting a fitting footnote on a difficult season.

"The easiest thing in life is to walk away from certain things," Conti said. "To the seniors, they will always be a part of what we do here."