CONWAY -- In time, the Coastal Carolina players and coaches will likely look back with pride on this late-season charge they made and remember 2010 as a step forward for the program - as the year the Chanticleers returned to national relevancy with their second-ever FCS playoff appearance.
But that kind of perspective was hard to summon Saturday afternoon after the way it all ended.
After falling behind by a touchdown with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter against No. 21 Western Illinois, the Chants and senior quarterback Zach MacDowall looked like they might just have one more push, one more surprise left in them as they moved 72 yards all the way to the Leathernecks' 4 with 21.7 seconds remaining.
Instead, the drive, the comeback and the season all came to an abrupt end that summed up the afternoon all too well for CCU.
On first-and-goal from the 4, MacDowall fired the football across the right side of the field and into the front of the end zone where WIU's Kieron James intercepted the pass to seal the Chants' fate in their first playoff game since 2006.
With the help of five Coastal Carolina turnovers, Western Illinois left Brooks Stadium with a 17-10 win before a crowd of 4,556 to advance to a second-round playoff matchup at Appalachian State.
CCU, meanwhile, was left to deal with the painful ending to what had been a memorable ride.
"It's just heartbreak down there," senior safety Dominique Davenport said of the postgame locker room. "You sit back and try to hold tears as you see your teammates bawling their eyes out because we gave it our all this season. A lot of people doubted us, but we stuck together as a team. To fall short like this, it hurts."
The Chants (6-6) had rallied back from a 2-5 start to the season to finish in a three-way tie for the Big South title and claim the conference's automatic playoff bid through a tiebreaker, completing a rather improbable turnaround that delivered the first home playoff game in program history.
A game they envisioned going much differently Saturday.
"It hurts to lose like that," CCU coach David Bennett said. "We were blessed to get into the postseason and blessed to have a home game and we didn't take advantage of it. We didn't do our part."
Missed opportunities were the unfortunate storyline all day for the Chants.
MacDowall, who had been playing the best football of his career the last three weeks and was a key reason the Chants had even advanced this far in the first place, threw a career-high four interceptions while completing 21 of 39 passes for 292 yards.
Bennett revealed after the game that the senior quarterback had been administered an IV earlier in the morning after battling illness the last few days.
And after not throwing any interceptions the last two games, MacDowall was picked off by Leathernecks cornerback Chris Boone on the Chants' first possession Saturday after leading the team to the WIU 26.
Then on its second possession, Coastal Carolina reached the WIU 20 before losing a fumble as senior Eric O'Neal never got control of the handoff.
The Chants would have yet another scoring opportunity thwarted in the final minute before halftime as WIU's Tyler West jumped in front of the waiting hands of junior tight end David Duran to intercept MacDowall in the end zone on a play that started at the Leathernecks' 14.
"The sad thing is at halftime we could have had 28 points," Bennett said. "We just didn't play as well as we've played the last few weeks. If we would have, we would have been victorious. We feel that in our hearts. We didn't do it, and it hurts."
Because meanwhile, Western Illinois (8-4) and its vaunted offensive attack weren't doing a whole lot against the CCU defense.
The Leathernecks, who entered the game ranked second among all FCS teams in total offense, took a 10-0 lead into halftime.
Their first score, a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Matt Barr early in the second quarter, was set up by an 83-yard completion from Barr to Terriun Crump after sophomore cornerback Tre Henderson tried to jump the route for an interception. Instead, Crump caught the pass with no other defenders behind him and raced all the way down the sideline to the CCU 8.
Western Illinois added a 38-yard Pat Smith field goal later in the second quarter, but the Chants were still very much in the game in the second half, thanks to a spark from Davenport.
After the Chants pinned WIU at its own 2 on a nice punt from senior Ben Erdman, the CCU defense did what its offense hadn't been able to - reach the end zone.
Davenport picked off a short pass from Barr and raced 17 yards into the end zone as Coastal Carolina cut its deficit to 10-7 with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
"I was just doing what I was coached to do," said Davenport, who tied a Big South single-season record with his second interception return for touchdown this year. "We were playing man, and the fullback that I had came into the flats, and I just kind of baited the quarterback a little bit."
The Chants would get their opportunity to tie the game early in the fourth quarter as MacDowall led the team down to the WIU 12. Senior kicker Justin Durham then lined up for a 29-yard field goal attempt. He missed it to the left, although the CCU sideline didn't seem to agree with the call.
But Durham would get another chance to even the score on the Chants' next possession, and this time he connected on a game-tying 34-yard field goal with 4:38 remaining.
"I was glad I got the opportunity to go back out there and hit the second one after I missed the first one," Durham said. "Kickers have to have a short [memory]. That's the mentality that we always have."
Unfortunately for the Chants, Western Illinois responded with an 81-yard touchdown drive to take the lead right back. Barr picked up a key first down with an 11-yard run on third-and-10 early in the drive and eventually capped it with a 5-yard touchdown run on third-and goal with 1:50 remaining.
That left Coastal Carolina with time for one more drive.
MacDowall passed for 40 yards and rushed for 27 on CCU's final possession and the Chants benefitted from a pass interference penalty and a Leathernecks' personal foul as they got down to the WIU 4. But their fifth and final turnover would prove decisive.
"Defensively, we held the No. 2 offense in the nation to 17 points. Offensively, we had [462] yards of offense," Bennett said. "But ... you can't turn the ball over five times in a national playoff game and win."
So this is where the journey ends for the Chants. They picked up a share of the Big South title for the fourth time in program history and reached the playoffs for the second time.
But they'll have to wait a little longer for that first playoff victory.
"I'll tell you what, our team and our guys realized that we belonged," Bennett said. "We belong in the playoffs."
It wasn't the ending the Chants had imagined after riding high into this game on a four-game winning streak. But then again, who would have even pictured them being here after that 2-5 start?
"I promise you this, a month ago if you had said we'd be sitting here, winning the conference, in the national playoffs with a home bid, I'd have told you you're crazy," Bennett said. "So I'm very proud of what these seniors have accomplished."
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