A loss, true, but grand nonetheless.

Friday, the South Whidbey Falcons fell to the Granite Falls Tigers 25-20.

South Whidbey is now 1-1 in league play, 2-2 overall, while Granite Falls remains unbeaten.

There were two keys to this game — a series of patented, powerful and confounding sweeps to the left by Tiger fullback Jon Pennington and a couple of ill-timed Falcon penalties late in the fourth quarter.

Whatever the Tigers were expecting, it certainly wasn’t sustained pressure from the Falcon defense. Justin Dunsmore sacked quarterback Billy Villegas for a five-yard loss and Kyle Hoch did the same with two minutes left. And for the first time in seven games, the Tigers failed to score in the first quarter.

The Falcon offense maintained a solid ground attack until late in the first half, when Danny Parra pulled a quarterback sneak for the touchdown with 6:33 left.

“They called a bootleg pass play and I said, ‘No, I’m taking this right up the middle.’ If I follow James (Jones), I know I’ll get a couple of yards,” Parra recalled.

Wide receiver Patrick Smith surprised everyone, and himself, by adding two points to the scoreboard on the point-after try.

“Everyone did a great job,” Smith said. “I think the Tigers underestimated us; we definitely put more pressure on them than they expected.”

Good teams aren’t going to let a lousy eight points discourage them. The Tigers found a sweet spot on the right and Zach Cuddeback scored on a running play a few minutes later; the point after was good and the score stood at 8-7.

“The Tigers got better since last year,” noted guard David Monell. “We knew they’d be hard but not that good.”

The Falcons came charging back and threatened to score another touchdown; Rob Knight plowed through the Tiger defense for a first down with 14 seconds on the clock, but time ran out.

When South Whidbey’s Pep Band brought the team back on the field with the theme from “Rocky,” the huge crowd at Waterman Field got behind the underdog Falcons.

Despite first class efforts by Hunter Hawkins, Trapper Rawls and Monell, Granite Falls punched their way through with 6:30 left in the third period on a two-yard Pennington run. The point after failed — Parra stopped the fake kick — but the Tigers were on top, 13-8.

With 3:36 left in the third, Tiger Sean Nelson caught a touchdown pass and Granite Falls pulled ahead 19-8.

Frustrated, Parra went airborne and Nick Tenuta caught two passes for first downs. Expecting more throws, the Tiger secondary relaxed, allowing Rob Knight to run right up the middle. South Whidbey closed the gap to 19-14.

“I just put my shoulder down and kept my feet churning for the tough yards,” Knight said.

On the ensuing kickoff, Knight recovered a fumble and the Falcons took over. Tight end Parker Barnett caught a pass at the eight-yard line, Knight rushed for the TD and suddenly the Tigers’ advantage was cut to 20-19 with 4:49 left in the game.

Granite Falls began another march downfield, but when the Tigers went for it on a fourth-and-short, South Whidbey’s Monell snuffed the attempt with a spectacular sack.

South Whidbey players could smell victory. Unfortunately, their excitement caught up to them.

But with 3:08 to go, the Falcons took a delay-of-game penalty for five yards. Seconds later, they picked up another and suddenly they were first-and-twenty.

Granite Falls then got the ball back and scored with 57 seconds left.

Parra’s desperate Hail Mary passes to Tenuta didn’t connect and the Tigers escaped with the win.

What happened?

“I should have taken time out after the big sack,” Coach Mark Hodson said. “Hey, I told them it was my fault. We had the wrong personnel for the plays we sent in and then we broke the huddle with 12 men on the field. They were excited out there and things got away from them.”

“We led the game and gave it back to them. We had a chance,” he said. “I’d been saying all week that these guys are tough and they know how to win.”

“We were motivated to get that first down and discouraged we didn’t do it,” Smith said. “But everyone I talked to after the game was astonished we did so well.”

“A lot of people thought we should have won. And they’re right,” Monell said.

Knight had 243 yards on 37 carries and was the top rusher in the conference for the week. Even so, Knight wanted the win.

“It sucks how it turned out,” Knight said. “There was a communications gap with the coaches. They wanted us to use formations we weren’t familiar with. Most of the night everyone on the line was executing really well.

“The bottom line is this: Fans can expect that every game we play we’ll be competing,” Knight added.

On Friday, the team travels to Kings for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Kings is also at 2-2 for the season.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or e-mail sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.