KARNS CITY — Early last week, the Butler County Bears believed they were playing for a United States Football Alliance playoff berth.

That hope ended Thursday when the USFA upheld the West Virginia Lightning's appeal of a rain-halted game from a few weeks ago, giving the Lightning a 28-6 win instead of giving the Bears a tie.

More rain and lightning came Saturday night at Karns City's stadium, eventually halting play with 1:06 left in the third quarter.

The Bears were handed a 14-6 loss to the Cleveland Saints and ended their debut season with a 3-6-1 record.

"Crushing ... just crushing," Slippery Rock High School graduate and Bears lineman T.J. Sommers said. "You do not want to see your season end like this."

Despite being outgained 233-42 and managing only three first downs, the Bears were in the game with Cleveland (5-5) when play was halted.

After a delay of nearly two hours because of lightning sightings, officials ended the game.

"I came back out here ready to play," receiver/cornerback and Karns City graduate Stephon Conto said. "I don't see any lightning. I don't understand why we're not playing. It's disappointing."

Conto caught a 31-yard pass from Bill McCaslin on a third-and-1 play from Cleveland's 48-yard line late in the first half. That play set up a 1-yard touchdown pass to Brian Perry with five seconds left before intermission.

Trailing 7-6 and with regular kicker Mark Alberti sidelined by injury, the Bears went for two points and were denied.

Three big plays led to the Saints' scores. Nate Ford returned a punt 45 yards to set up the visitors' first possession. Ford then caught a 31-yard pass and Kevin Sitgraves scored on a 4-yard run.

Sitgraves — a 220-pound running back who played college ball at Alfred State — scored on a 63-yard run with 4:47 left in the third period.

Sitgraves had 17 carries for 149 yards on the night.

"Besides that big pass and long run, our defense played great football tonight," Bears coach Kirk Bergbigler said. "They've been good all year. They're just on the field way too long."

The Bears scored only 75 points all season.

Grant Meabon recovered a Saints' fumble at the Cleveland 40-yard line late in the first quarter, but the Bears' offense went three-and-out. Brandon Baldwin recovered a fumble at the Saints 30 early in the second quarter and the Bears turned the ball over on downs.

"We had our chances and just couldn't move the ball," Bergbigler said. "We've struggled on offense all season.

"We don't have any linemen as big as 300 pounds and teams we play have linemen pushing 400. That makes it tough."

Still, Bergbigler keeps the season in perspective.

"We were a first-year team and we were going to take our lumps," he said. "I told the guys to think of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans in their first seasons.

"It's never easy when you're starting from scratch."

Sommers said this season was used to build chemistry. The Bears began the season with 36 players and ended it with 22.

"We're a team now and I'll definitely be back," he said. "We know what we're up against now. We just have to keep building.

"Some of our guys got hurt during the year, some younger guys just out of high school realized they weren't ready for this yet, playing against grown men."

Conto had 151 all-purpose yards in the season finale, including 109 on two kick returns and a punt return.

He had been a walk-on at Indiana (Pa.) University and will still attend school there. He is not returning to the IUP football team.

"I plan to come back here. I never thought I'd be playing on this field again," Conto said of his alma mater's turf. "We need three more tailbacks, three more quality receivers ... pretty much everything.

"It takes time. The word's out and maybe that will help. We need depth everywhere to compete in this league."