MAYVILLE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Mayville's Cinderella season comes about the size of one glass slipper short of a state championship.
Down by eight with less than two minutes to go, the Cardinals scored a touchdown, then got shot inches short of what would have been a tying two-point conversion.
"The kids respond at the right times and right moments. We just came up a hair too short unfortunately, this time," said Mayville Head Coach Scott Hilber.
The team was resilient all game. After falling behind 16-zip, they just kept pushing, running for more than 300 yards.
"That's one of the things we focused on this week is our resilience. Even this season, being resilient and never giving up. We are a physical football team and we just wanted to come and play hard the whole time," said Blake Schraufnagel.
"They have to be very proud of themselves and how they responded, because not every team does that. When you can come to the state championship and play a great game like that and fight in front of everybody, that's respect."
Coach Scott Hilber is following in his father's footsteps.
Alex led the Cardinals to two state final appearances in 1991 and '92 before ultimately winning Mayville's only state championship in 1994.