CHERRY TWP — The red zone had the Moniteau High football team feeling blue.

The Warriors lived inside Clarion's 20-yard line, advancing into that usually pleasant plot of real estate four times Friday night.

But Moniteau left the red zone with no points, leading to a 7-3 home loss to the Bobcats in the regular-season finale.

"It is frustrating to be down in there that many times and not get points," said Moniteau coach Steve Wilson. "We have to capitalize, punch it in when we get down there."

Even when Moniteau did punch it into the end zone, it ended up getting nothing out of it.

Matt Schandelmeier returned the opening kickoff 79 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the Warriors were whistled for a block in the back, nullifying the score.

In the third quarter, Moniteau quarterback Garth Kohlmeyer completed a pass over the middle to Adam Cousins, who raced into the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown, but the Warriors were penalized for a block in the back at the Clarion 3.

No points resulted from that drive.

It got worse.

Trailing 7-3 with two minutes remaining, Moniteau had a first-and-goal at the Clarion 2, but couldn't score on four plays.

"If you get down there first-and-goal from the 2-yard line, I like our chances," Wilson said.

Not on this Friday.

Clarion's defense tightened at all the right times, especially when it needed a stop the most.

"Four downs from the yard-and-a-half line," said Clarion coach Larry Wiser. "I can't say enough about our defense."

Still, Clarion was in a precarious position as it was pinned at its own 1-yard line.

A motion penalty put the Bobcats at the half-yard line, but they were able to grind out two first downs to kill the clock and the Warriors.

Wiser was contemplating taking an intentional safety and giving the Warriors the ball on a free kick, but he said he knew Cousins had a good leg and didn't want to risk it.

"They were playing some good defense," Wiser said of Moniteau. "If we didn't get a first down, we were going to try to burn as much time as we could and take a safety."

Moniteau's defense did play well, except for two plays.

After a Warriors punt pinned Clarion back at its own 12, Bobcats running back Chris McSwain ran up the middle for 18 yards. On the next play, McSwain burst up the middle again, shed two tacklers, spun to his left and shed three more tackle attempts and raced down the left side for a 70-yard touchdown run with 7:19 remaining in the game.

McSwain was held to 79 yards on 16 carries before his long scoring run and finished with 163 yards on 20 carries in the game.

Moniteau's only points came on a 37-yard field goal by Adam Cousins with 4:27 left in the first quarter.

The Warriors were within Cousins' range on each of their forays into Clarion's red zone, but Wilson opted to go for a touchdown on each occasion.

"We figured if nothing else, we're going to pin them back and make them go the long field on us," Wilson said. "We're trying to get a touchdown on the board. We had confidence because we were moving the ball on them. In hindsight, maybe we should have (kicked field goals)."

Wilson doesn't want any kind of hindsight now as the Warriors limp into the playoffs.

He wants his team to get a fresh start in the postseason after dropping three straight games to fall to 4-5.

Three of those four loses came at home — 8-7 to Clarion-Limestone, 10-0 to Karns City and this close affair against Clarion.

"We played a good football game. I don't want to lose any more than anyone else," Wilson said. "But we're playing some better football. We played as a team today and everyone was doing their job today."

Moniteau will be on the road in the opening round of the District 9 playoffs.

The Warriors will most likely play either Brookville, a 25-16 loser to Grove City, or Brockway in the first round.

Top seed Karns City will get a bye.

With the win, Clarion will get a home game.

"This was a big one for us," Wiser said. "We saved a two-hour drive."