The pain was written all over Victor Jergen’s face, the emotion of the moment unmistakable with every word he spoke.

The Webster City senior offensive lineman and linebacker knew that the end was inevitable, he just didn’t know when it would take place. Would it happen inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls? Or would his journey reach its conclusion on a brisk fall evening some 160 miles from home in the unfamiliar town of Sergeant Bluff?

It was the latter, and it was hard to swallow.

55-35 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. The season, finished. His prep career, nothing but memories.

Those better be happy memories, too, Victor.

“I’m very proud of everything we accomplished,” Jergens said following fourth-ranked Webster City’s 20-point loss to No. 8 Sergeant Bluff-Luton in Friday’s state quarterfinals. “I’m very proud of my teammates and the coaches and all of the people who made this possible.”

But here’s the thing he wanted everyone to understand – the loss stung, but it wasn’t the sole reason he needed to compose himself as he spoke. Saying goodbye to his teammates, his coaches and the helmet he’s worn with pride, those are the things that tore at his insides minutes before he loaded onto the bus and headed home.

Hours, days, weeks, months, years of training, it helped him and all of his teammates become arguably the best prep football team I’ve ever covered. But nothing lasts forever.

“It’s not that we lost or how bad we lost or what (Sergeant Bluff-Luton) did. It’s that it’s over,” Jergens said. “I can’t describe it. All of those years of hard work … there’s no other way I would have wanted to spend it. I’m glad I did everything I did.”

WCHS head coach Bob Howard understood exactly what Jergens and the other 15 seniors in uniform were feeling. It’s the small piece of him that is ripped away every time he is forced to say goodbye to a class.

“The emotion of it right now, it’s not that you’re feeling hurt that you just lost, it’s because it’s done,” Howard said. “They’ve worked for four years for this and now it’s finished. All of that working together is done and that’s what I hope people understand.”

I’m sad to see them go. Jergens, Carter Rholl, Alec and Avery Fuhs, Collin Oswald, Ryan Ferrari, Cole Reigelsberger, Sean Vogelbacher, Jordan Moen, Gavin Dinsdale, Dalton Draeger, Austin Biggs, Chris Jorgensen, Colter Johnson, Braden Eger and Landon Daniels – it’s been my pleasure to watch you grow on the gridiron.

Parents, coaches, fans, heck, even myself – we all probably searched for those magic words that would make the hurt dissolve while the emotions were still raw. But words will never be enough and that’s OK. It should hurt. That’s how you know it meant something.

And as I walked off that field in Sergeant Bluff Friday night, I thought back to the words my colleague at the Fort Dodge Messenger, Eric Pratt, wrote just one week earlier about the players on the Fort Dodge football team after its season ended in the first round of the 4A playoffs. It was simple and spot on, and so I don’t mind stealing from him here – be disappointed for them, not in them.

After that disappointment dissipates, remember everything that was accomplished this season. Talk about it. Laugh about it. And don’t ever forget it.

An undefeated regular season, the first since 1987.

A 3A District 2 championship, the first since 1994.

An 11-win season, something never accomplished in 120 years of football at Webster City.

A season in which the Lynx scored 444 points – the second most in school history behind only the 2011 group that put up 512 points. This bunch scored 35 or more points in 10 of its 12 games and averaged 37 an outing while outscoring their opponents by 249 points.

Dinsdale should always be proud of his individual accomplishments – feats he would never have been able to reach without teammates like Draeger, Reigelsberger, Vogelbacher, Moen and the Fuhs’ boys giving their blood and sweat to open up the running lanes.

Dinsdale leaves behind a legacy that includes school records for rushing yards (3,634) and rushing touchdowns (55). His 274-yard effort on Friday left him with 1,958 yards on the season, just 42 short of the hallowed halls of a 2,000-yard season. His 29 TD’s in 2015 ranks second on the school’s single-season leaderboard, trailing only the great Bill Chauncey, who ran for 31 in 1944.

“I couldn’t have done any of it without the line and the defense,” Dinsdale said. “All of those guys were awesome.”

I don’t have the records for defensive statistics, nor do I know if they even exist. But I’ve got to believe Daniels’ nine interceptions this fall ranks high, if not at the top, of that list. Jergens’ 83 solo tackles – yep, that’s got to be right up there as well.

It’s a statistic that often (OK, always) goes unnoticed, but do you know that Daniels’ right foot was nearly perfect? He made 53 of 55 PAT’s, his only two misses coming on blocked kicks, and he also drained his only field goal attempt of 29 yards. I’ve watched a lot of prep football over the years and, trust me, that’s nothing short of sensational.

I could go on and on about everything accomplished on 12 nights over the past 21?2 months.

Following the Lynx 42-13 rout of Boone late last month that wrapped up the 9-0 regular season, Dinsdale told me how he and his teammates would probably be 80 years old reminiscing about this season while they sipped their coffee.

I sure hope that happens. I hope they can dust off the old articles and columns that I’ve written and smile.

They deserve to have those moments.

And 48 minutes in Sergeant Bluff won’t diminish any of it.