Competing in the championship bracket for the first time, the Wildcats made just enough plays early and not quite enough later.

Therefore, they experienced both ends of the sports spectrum at Texas A&M’s Penberthy Intramural Fields - the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Lache Seastrunk caught two late touchdown passes and Temple’s defense broke up a last-play pass at the goal line for a 27-25 comeback win over Elkins, but a penalty on Jonathan Bane for holding the ball too long negated his go-ahead 45-yard TD pass to Tevin Reese in the final minute and Lee held off the Wildcats 33-32 in the round of 16.

A year after Temple won five games in its first state trip in 7-on-7 to reach the consolation semifinals, the Wildcats went 4-1 and tied seven other teams for ninth place out of 64 Class 5A and 4A competitors.

“These guys have come a long way since we first got together June 2,” Temple 7-on-7 coach Craig Marshall said. “Right now they’re disappointed that we lost because they wanted to keep going, but hopefully they’ll sleep on it and realize what kind of season we had.”

Reese, the Wildcats’ speedy senior receiver/kick returner, caught two TD passes against Lee to push his five-game total to seven - and Bane’s to 25.

But after Temple’s final game, he clearly was dejected.

“It was just a lack of focus (in the second half),” Reese said. “We worked hard to get here. It was good to get where we did, but we thought we were going to win.”

On Temple’s second possession of the second half against Lee, Reese sprinted past the Red Raiders and made a 45-yard TD catch to cut the Wildcat deficit to 33-32.

But three fruitless Temple possessions later, that score remained and the Wildcats got the ball back with one minute left and one last chance to win.

Bane, a senior-to-be who transferred from Rogers to Temple last fall, fired a long pass that hit Reese in stride for an apparent 45-yard TD and a 38-33 Wildcat advantage.

However, the referee on Temple’s side ruled that Bane exceeded the four seconds quarterbacks have to throw the ball after they get the snap, taking away the go-ahead TD.

Needing to go 45 yards with less than a minute left, Temple saw another Bane bomb to Reese get knocked away and Bane’s final pass - with no time remaining - to Deleon Patterson get intercepted in the end zone.

Though the game against Lee was close throughout, Temple never led a Red Raiders squad that lost 33-27 to Arlington Lamar in the quarterfinals.

Touchdown passes by Luke Waggoner gave Lee first-half leads of 7-0, 13-6 and 20-13, but the Wildcats responded.

Bane hit A.J. Coulter with a quick pass to the left side for Temple’s first score, connected with Reese for a 45-yard TD play and flicked a short toss to Marcus Jones across the goal line to make it 20-20 with 1:30 left in the first half.

Lee moved into position for a late score, but Patterson and Ryheem Johnson broke up an end-zone pass and the horn blew before the next snap.

The Red Raiders scored on their second play of the half to go up 27-20, then Bane’s pass to Seastrunk was picked off.

But Patterson immediately provided a crucial boost, stepping in front of a pass to the right side for an interception-return TD and a 27-26 game before the 1-point pass was broken up.

Lee answered with a score to go up 33-26. Bane then fired deep to Reese for their second 45-yard TD, but another 1-point pass that would have tied the game failed and neither defense allowed another score.

The Wildcats were fortunate to get into their duel with Lee, but they certainly earned it. To beat Elkins, Temple had to overcome second-half deficits of 19-7 and 25-14.

On the game’s first possession, Bane threw to Coulter at the front-left pylon for a TD and then hit him with a 1-point pass for a 7-0 lead.

But the Knights regrouped on both sides of the ball and scored the next 13 points.

Patterson intercepted a pass at the goal line as time expired in the first half and Ryan Powell appeared to score after taking a lateral from D.J. Daniels. But an official negated the score, ruling that a Temple player had run in front of the ball during the return - not a violation of 7-on-7 rules.

Marshall later said the official changed his tune and told him the Temple player was trying to screen, which is illegal.

In the second half Elkins wrapped two long TD passes around Bane’s 28-yard scoring pass to Drew Shenkir and a 2-point toss to Reese, leaving the Knights with a 25-14 lead.

But it was all Wildcats after that. Temple converted two third downs before Seastrunk snared Bane’s fade pass for an 8-yard TD, and Coulter’s 1-point grab made it 25-21.

The Wildcats then broke up a goal-line pass and regained possession with about five minutes left. Needing to score and also use plenty of clock, Temple did exactly that.

A leaping third-down catch by Reese got the Wildcats to the 3 before Seastrunk jumped high to grab Bane’s pass for the go-ahead TD with two minutes remaining.

Elkins had a last chance, but several Wildcats broke up a long pass to the goal line as time expired to complete the dramatic comeback victory.

“We just did what we wanted to do,” Reese said. “We came together as a team.”

NOTE: Belton, which lost its three pool-play games Friday by a combined score of 132-19, was edged 19-13 by Arlington in its consolation game Saturday.

gwille@temple-telegram.com