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If the Glenelg High football team had to end the year with Friday's 14-13 loss to host Atholton, it would have been a heartbreaking final note on an otherwise stellar regular season.

But less than 12 hours after running back Raiders' running back Andrew King ran in his second touchdown of the night for the Raiders (9-1), the Gladiators (8-2) will begin dissecting the game, figuring out what went right and what went wrong; for they still have the playoffs ahead of them.

"I'm proud of them and how they played," Schaffer said. "We played fairly well, and Atholton is a tremendous team. They're a playoff team."

The hosts showed their mettle by taking the lead in a tough scrap with just 30.2 seconds left in regulation when King scored on a 2-yard touchdown. Brent Haas kicked the winning extra point.

Before one snap of football went down on Friday, the Raiders were already locked in as the No. 2 seed in the Class 3A East Region. They were led to that accomplishment around the connection between quarterback Kalvin Seamonson and receiver Matt Robinson, who has caught 37 passes for 781 yards and eight touchdowns this season.

But against the Gladiators defensive backs, Robinson had just one catch for five yards. Meanwhile, the normally ground-based Glenelg offense took off with senior quarterback Gage Trawick, who completed 8 of 14 attempts for 118 yards and two scores, including a 21-yarder to senior running back Shannon Maura and an 8-yarder to junior receiver Shane Kellaher.

"I felt pretty good," Trawick said. "We had a good week of practice, and things were working."

Amazingly, Trawick's fingers were still working in the second half, after the belt holding his hand warmer fell apart in the first half. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees by the end of the game, coating the grass in frost.

"This group of kids worked hard for this," Schaffer said. "We're not the biggest or the fastest or the most talented team, but they play with a lot of heart."

The only part of Glenelg's offense that was noticeably feeling frozen out was its normally effective running game, which finished with only 77 yards on 29 carries against the Raiders.

In contrast, Seamonson kept running up the middle of the line, finishing with 134 yards on 18 touches. It's what helped the hosts to their two touchdowns. On their game-winning march, Seamonson had runs of 6, 28 and 7 yards, accounting for two first downs. Atholton threw the ball only once in the fourth quarter.

Glenelg has some time to shake off the loss, as it's the No. 2 seed in the 2A South Region. The Gladiators were more or less locked into that spot, with Prince George's County's Gwynn Park holding the top seed all season. They'll host either Frederick Douglass of Prince George's County, McDonough of Charles County or Southern of Anne Arundel County, depending on this weekend's results.

"I'm really psyched," Trawick said. "We barely missed playoffs my sophomore and junior years. I really wanted this win [vs. Atholton] going in, but we'll learn from it."