The conventional wisdom at all levels of football is that mistakes are magnified against good teams in playoff games.

Aberdeen learned that lesson the hard way after a 7-6 loss to Columbia River in a 2A State play-in “half” game on Tuesday at Stewart Field in Aberdeen.

The Bobcats (4-6 overall) and Rapids (5-5) played what amounted to two quarters of football to determine which team would advance to the 2A State Tournament first round on Saturday.

The decision was made by officials from both the 2A Evergreen and Greater St. Helen’s leagues weeks ago to play a half-game format for the traditional “pigtail” game, rather than a Kansas tie-breaker – which is more suitable for a three-team tiebreaker – or playing a full game, which causes player-safety issues with the winner playing three full games in the span of 10 days.

So Columbia River made the trip north to face the Bobcats in a win-or-go home matchup that featured two quarters of play separated by a halftime.

Things started well for Aberdeen as the Bobcats ground game got going in the first half behind stellar junior running back Micah Schroeder.

With points being at a premium in the short game, Aberdeen got on the board first by embarking on an epic 18-play, 68-yard drive that ate up 8:55 of clock and produced points on a 6-yard Schroeder run with 1:39 left in the half.

But one of those critical mistakes turned up on Aberdeen’s extra-point attempt when an imperfect snap and hold threw off kicker Gabe Matthews’ timing, leading to a miss and a 6-0 lead.

Aberdeen’s defense would hold the Rapids scoreless in the first half and had a chance to add some points late in the half with the ball on the Columbia River side of the 50-yard line, but Cats quarterback Mason Hill was sacked to send the game into halftime.

The Bobcats received the second-half kickoff and went three-and-out, punting the ball back over the the Rapids.

Columbia River’s next drive included a holding penalty and a fourth-down conversion as the Rapids charged down field before facing a 4th and goal from the 6-yard line.

Rapids quarterback Cole Pearson rolled to his right and threw the ball toward the back corner of the end zone. Columbia River running back Joey Ianello leaped to make the catch and tap his foot down just before falling out of bounds to tie the game at 6-all with 6:00 on the clock.

Rapids kicker Aedan Pena converted the point-after kick for a 7-6 lead.

Aberdeen followed with another long drive – helped by a Rapids 15-yard personal-foul penalty and a clutch 4th-and-long completion from Hill to receiver Sam Schreiber for 19 yards – moving the ball inside the Rapids red zone.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen receiver Sam Schreiber (middle) tries to avoid the tackle of Columbia River’s Hunter Vynanek (4) during the Bobcats’ 7-6 loss in a 2A State play-in matchup on Tuesday at Stewart Field in Aberdeen.

But the drive stalled and on a 4th-down play from the 16-yard line, the ball was snapped over Hill’s head and was recovered by Pearson at the 35 with 1:02 to play.

Aberdeen had a desperation chance at their own 28 with six seconds on the clock, but Hill was sacked to end the game, and Aberdeen’s season.

“When you are doing ball-control, you can’t get behind the chains and we did. We were behind the chains the entire second half,” Aberdeen head coach Todd Bridge said. “We thought for sure things were going to go in our favor tonight, especially at halftime, but they didn’t. That’s the way the game goes. You can’t make mistakes and we did, at bad times.”

Schroeder finished with 106 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries for a Bobcats team that outgained the Rapids 136-91.

Bridge told his crestfallen team after the game to learn from the experience.

“You’ve got to get back up in the morning. This is a football game. It means a hell of a lot to us, but it’s a football game. It’s not life or death,” he said. “Use all the things we’ve learned over the course of the season, like never giving up and fighting to the end, all of those things we preach about. … We could’ve gave up when we were 1-5 and that would’ve been pretty easy. But we started cashing in and won three of our four previous games.”

Columbia River 0 7 – 7

Aberdeen 6 0 – 6

Scoring

First half

A – Schroeder 5 run (kick fail), 1:39

Second half

CR – Ianello 6 pass from Pearson (Pena kick), 6:00

Passing: CR – Pearson 5-8-0-52. A – Hill 4-6-0-35

Rushing: CR – McCoy 9-23, Ianell0 3-8, Pena 2-8. A – Schroeder 25-106, R. Wixson 3-8, Hammonds 1-(-7), Hill 2-(-8).

Receiving: CR – Blau 2-36, Ianello 3-16. A – Schreiber 3-23, Schroeder 1-12.