SHELBY — As bitter as it was to Mansfield Senior coach Bryan DeBolt, Monday’s Division II district semifinal loss didn’t come without a silver lining.
The Tygers are building a new culture.
Playing in its first district tournament since 2013, fifth-seeded Senior High gave No. 4 Norwalk all it could handle in the 1-0 setback.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year, and people may have thought it was stupid when I told them, I said we wanted to play for a district championship,” DeBolt said. “To come within one goal, it’s tough to take.
“We should be very happy with what we did, but within our locker room we knew what we were capable of. We knew that this is the type of team that we should be. We should make deep playoff runs like this.”
The Truckers scored the match’s only goal in the 24th minute. Erik Rangel-Negrete sent a ball toward the back post, where a streaking Kingston Gonzales one-timed it with his left foot.
“We had one lapse and they capitalized on it,” DeBolt said. “Congrats to Norwalk. They’re making a deep run, too, for a team that wasn’t ranked very high in our district.”
Senior High (9-10) attacked throughout the second half but could never equalize.
“Tonight it hurts, DeBolt said. “These guys have really … pushed with everything they had. It sucks to go out like this.”
Mansfield Senior’s last tournament win came a decade ago. DeBolt hopes the wait for another taste of postseason success won’t be as long.
“I told them, ‘This is going to suck,’ ” DeBolt said of the heart-breaking loss. “After that, it fuels them for the next six or eight months. Hopefully that is how they look at this, that we are a team of this caliber.
“We’re losing some key components, but hopefully this is more of a tradition kind of thing.”