Up 15-0 late in the second quarter at the James Jerome Sports Complex Saturday night, the Sudbury Spartans fully expected the push that was the come from the visiting Burlington Longhorns.

Yet an eventual 35-15 loss at the hands of a squad that features a good number of graduates of U Sport programs had far less to do with the challenge that Burlington would mount – which they certainly did – and far more with the Spartans inability to complete relatively routine plays that they will make more often than not.

“It wasn’t the adjustments they made that killed us,” said head coach Junior Labrosse. “We just shot ourselves in the foot.”

While some contests can pivot on a TSN Turning Point, this game was more a result of a collective of Sudbury mistakes, following a first half that was largely as good a display of football that the Spartans have produced in quite some time at home.

When the bleeding started, the locals struggled to make it stop.

“That third quarter just snowballed,” said Labrosse. “A bad snap on a punt; a fumble on a big run.”

Truth be told, the start of the turnaround could be traced to quarter number two – but let’s go back further, to a time when things were fine in Spartan-Land.

“That first half, we took it to them,” said Labrosse.

Coach isn’t wrong.

A very impressive march early in the first quarter would culminate in an eight-yard pass from Adam Rocha to Dylan Bertin, with Mateo Bedoya nailing the PAT and making it 7-0. With the Spartans offense controlling the ball for minutes on end and the homeside defense doing a nice job of thwarting a pass-heavy attack from the Longhorns, the nickel city crew would add to their lead.

Desmond Whitmore was credited with a safety when the Burlington punter knelt in the end zone and midway through quarter two, quarterback Rocha called his own number from the six, just barely crossing the goal line.

The Spartans opened the door, just a little, a short while later, opting to go for it on third and two – though the defense would limit the Longhorns to a 27 yard field goal from kicker Adam Rombough, whose leg proved to be a factor for the balance of the game.

“I made an emotional call and I am still lingering on that,” acknowledged Labrosse. “And then in the fourth quarter, when we should have went for it, I didn’t.”

A three and out on the next Sudbury possession was exacerbated when an errant snap sailed over the head of punter Nicolson Christmas, with Burlington wasting little time narrowing the deficit to 15-10 courtesy of a 5-yard pass from QB Josh Madden to Ryan Malvaso.

Thankfully, the Spartans at least had the halftime break to regroup.

Then again, maybe not.

By the time that 5:08 had expired in quarter three, Burlington had secured a 21-15 lead and would never look back as Rombough nailed a field goal from the thirty-six, Daniel Seymour bulldozed in from the two and Rombough jumped back into the fray with a convert and a single (on the kickoff).

Though the score remained the same until the final five minutes of the contest, the damage was done. “Every football player has to have a short memory,” stressed Labrosse with likely the key learning takeaway for his team in this game. “No one ever plays a perfect game.”

“You’re going to make mistakes; it’s how you deal with those mistakes.”

This was not a “lack of effort” issue. In some senses, one might argue that it was quite the opposite.

“Sometimes an athlete will try too hard to make up for a previous mistake and now they forego the game plan and it just snowballs,” said Labrosse. “The guys were trying hard but things weren’t going. It was one of those times where we wished the mountain would just fall in one shot so we could move forward.”

With the defense now making some stops, the Spartans’ offense could not sequence first downs or create the kinds of big plays needed to counterpunch with a much-needed major. When a decision to punt on third on one deep in their own end backfired, a short kick and a 15-yard infraction essentially giving Burlington that same field position, one could sense this game was not to be.

Seymour scored two more rushing touchdowns to increase the gap in the final five minutes, which did little to detract from what was a decent overall effort for the home team, one which included outstanding games from the likes of Dalton Wilcox, the offensive line, the defensive secondary (Hayden Liinamaa, in particular) and the entire core of receivers led by Dylan Bertin and Connor Campeau.

Wilcox: “he really started running north-south instead of east-west and it showed” (Labrosse)

O Line: “that running game was the best we’ve had so far, helping us sustain drives – there are some great positives there”

Liinamaa: “we knew that they were going to come in and try and pick on him – and I would too, any time you have a short DB on some tall receivers; he rose to the challenge”

Bertin: “he is learning at the men’s level that they cover closer, they break on the ball better and they hit harder – he did a good job of concentrating and attacking the ball”

The Spartans are on the road next Saturday, battling the Tri-City Outlaws and then closing out regular season play with a visit to the Lock City, facing the Soo Steelers on July 12th.