‘It hurts because your hearts are in it.’ Bryan Station’s playoff run cut short.

A nail-biter on the Northside ended in heartbreak for Bryan Station.

The Defenders, winners of 10 straight after dropping their first three contests, ended their campaign with a 55-41 loss to Bullitt East in the semifinals of the Class 6A state football playoffs on Friday night.

There were tears aplenty, in huddles on and away from the field. As scarlet-tinted jubilation broke out on their home field, Station Coach Phil Hawkins made sure to remind his players why their tears mattered.

“It hurts because your hearts are in it,” Hawkins told his players. “I love every damn one of you. I’d be excited as hell if the roles were reversed right now. But they’re not.”

From 2016-19, Bryan Station didn’t have a winning season. In 2020, Hawkins’ first season at the helm, it won 10 games for the first time since 1999. The Defenders did that again last year, and again this season — this time around becoming the first group since that 1999 team to play for a shot at the state title. They fell short, but not for a lack of effort:

Station (10-4) took a 28-20 lead into halftime, but the third quarter proved pivotal for the Chargers (13-1). An 18-play, 70-yard drive melted more than seven minutes off the clock and brought the visitors within two points. On Station’s subsequent possession, Chargers senior Camron Brogan picked off Trenton Cutwright and returned it 40 yards to give Bullitt East its first lead since late in the first quarter. Cutwright scored as time expired in the period to knot things at 34.

The Defenders midway through the fourth quarter again answered a go-ahead touchdown by the Chargers — Jeremiah Mundy-Lloyd rushed for his third TD of the game to make it 41-all with 6:05 to play — but ran out of steam. Four minutes later, Brogan reeled in a 32-yard score from Travis Egan to put Bullitt East up for good.

“Pre-snap, me and Travis saw that the middle of the field was wide open,” Brogan said. “He put it on me and we made the play.”

Station’s final chance to respond was halted at the Chargers’ 46-yard line with a minute left. Three plays later, Chargers senior Mason Gauthier rushed for a 50-yard TD to leave no doubt about the outcome.

Bullitt East’s program was in a similar spot to Station’s through most of the last decade. The Chargers from 2015-20 had six straight losing seasons, and went seven years without a postseason victory before a first-round win last fall. They won their 13th straight game on Friday night, their lone blemish a 19-16 loss to Spencer County in their season opener, and are in the state finals for the third time in their history.

Brogan ended up with 141 receiving yards on 10 receptions. He finished with 273 all-purpose yards and had 2.5 tackles. Egan, who was banged up and missed a chunk of the Chargers’ win over Central Hardin last week, looked no worse for wear in Lexington. He finished with four TDs and 249 yards on 19-of-28 passing and rushed for 72 yards and a score on 17 carries. Gauthier led the victors with 163 yards and two scores on 19 carries.

Mundy-Lloyd rushed 26 times for a game-high 171 yards. He’s one of 17 seniors who graduate from a Bryan Station program that won three games their freshman year. They’ve won 30 since then, and will hand the reins over to several juniors and sophomores who made big plays throughout the course of this season and Friday night.

“I told people at the beginning of the season that I thought this was gonna be my best football team here so far, and I think it was,” Hawkins said. “I hope I can say that about next year’s team and the year after. That’s what building a program is about. I think that we’ve got the attention of the rest of 6A. I don’t see any moving backward at all.”

Male survives

Bullitt East on Saturday, Dec. 3 will play Male for the Class 6A state championship. The Chargers stunned the perennial title challengers, 24-17, on Oct. 21.

Their final opponent nearly was — and perhaps should have been — Ballard. With under 30 seconds to play Friday night, the Crimsons stopped Male at the goal line and were one play away from making their first state finals since 1984. The snap somehow ricocheted forward and ended up at the 8-yard line, where it was scooped up by Male’s Korrey Mattingly. He scored with ease and sent the Bulldogs to their fifth straight championship game.

“I’m just trying to process everything, to be honest with you,” Male Coach Chris Wolfe told The Courier Journal. “I feel for the Ballard kids and the Ballard staff. … It’s a tough way to lose.”

When Bullitt East and Male met earlier this season, the latter was without leading rusher Daniel Swinney. He was averaging 107.3 yards per game prior to the Bulldogs’ win over Ballard on Friday night; Egan described him as a “game-changer.”

“We’re going to try and go into there with a mindset that it’s a whole new team,” Egan said. “It’s a whole new week, anything can happen. We’re going to try to shut them down.”

Saturday, Dec. 3

Class 6A State Championship at Kroger Field

4 p.m.: Male (10-4) vs. Bullitt East (13-1)