Montesano’s season came to an end in a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Klahowya in the first round of the 1A State Tournament on Tuesday at Klahowya High School.

Monte (14-8-1 overall) played through a scoreless first half with the 16th-seed Eagles (14-4-2) and into the second half, where the Bulldogs struck the first blow.

Monte senior midfielder Levi Clements headed the ball into the net off a feed from junior forward Felix Romero for a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute.

But in the game’s final moments, disaster struck for the 17th-seeded Bulldogs.

In the 80th minute, a penalty inside the box was called against Monte, leading to an Eagles penalty-kick goal with mere minutes left in the game.

Monte’s hopes were dashed when Klahowya added the eventual game-winning goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the stoppage time.

“I’m fine if we lose, but it’s how we lost really bothers me right now,” Monte head coach Fidel Sanchez said. “That’s why you have to compete all the way. You can’t compete for 77 minutes. You have to compete for 80 minutes.”

The Bulldogs had their opportunities throughout the game, with six of their 12 shots being on-target and produced five corner kicks.

The loss ends Monte’s third-consecutive trip to the state tournament a bit premature for what the Bulldogs had hoped.

Sanchez said he had “mixed feelings” when reflecting back on the season.

“We dropped two league games that we should have never dropped and then we dropped this one that we shouldn’t have dropped,” he said. “It was a good season. To get to the state tournament three years in a row is really good, especially at a school that is not known for boys soccer.”

Montesano 0 1 – 1

Klahowya 0 2 – 2

Scoring

First half: none.

Second half: 1, Montesano, Levi Clements (Romero), 65th minute. 2, Klahowya, 80th minute. 3, Klahowya, 83rd minute.