Dirk Wedd walked back toward the sideline. The Lawrence High players began to gather around him, less a few who ran up and hugged him with tears in their eyes.

Wedd, moments removed from a 35-14 loss to Olathe North, began to speak to his players, telling them how proud he was of all they’d accomplished.

Even as the words left his mouth, they never truly set in for one senior.

“He can tell us over and over,” said Angel Garcia. “But I don’t think anyone would really understand.”

For the last 40-plus seasons, nearly half of which was spent at the helm of the LHS program, Wedd was a football coach, a title that’ll expire sometime after the team returns to Lawrence and he can, in his words, tell his players how much he loves them one more time.

But as the team broke from the huddle on the field, it was a teary-eyed Dante Jackson who best summed up what everyone was feeling.

“That’s my coach, that’s my man. I love him to death,” the senior quarterback said. “Getting another win for him tonight was so big. To come up short for coach Wedd, it’s awful.”

He can rest easy knowing his coach holds no resentment.

While the normally proficient LHS offense short circuited in the first half, it was the defense who kept the Lions alive.

Facing a 4th-and-goal at the one to start the second quarter, LHS senior Kristian Russell burst through the line of scrimmage to tackle Olathe North’s Jevon Parrish short of the goal line. Later in the quarter, Deshon Lewis and Harry King each had a touchdown-saving tackle.

"Super proud. They're just unbelievably hard-working kids and they really care about each other," Wedd said of the defense. "They grew up over the course of the season."

The bend-don’t-break mentality only lasted so long.

For more, read the LJWorld.com