ATWATER -- Buhach Colony's Leon Miles sat hunched over on the bench with his head in his hands as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Teammate Enrique Covarrubias walked off the field one last time with tears streaming down his face.
The sudden end to a magnificent season hit the Thunder players hard, and the scoreboard offered little sympathy: Vacaville 27, Buhach Colony 17.
For the second straight year, the Thunder (12-1) saw their playoff run hit a road block in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 semifinals.
"It's tough knowing I'm not going to play football with these guys again," BC quarterback Nick Datray said. "A lot of us grew up playing Pop Warner together."
Vacaville (12-1) advances to play Folsom (11-2) in next week's championship game.
Vacaville's high-octane offense had garnered most of the attention this season with two 1,000-yard running backs in Melvin Mason and Curtis Goins.
However, it was the Bulldogs' defense taking center stage against Buhach Colony.
Vacaville did what no other team had been able to do this season. The Bulldogs shut down the Thunder rushing attack, holding BC to just three points in the first three quarters.
"It was a great performance from those guys, especially against a team like Buhach Colony," said Vacaville coach Mike Papadopoulos. "That was a huge test going against guys like that."
Meanwhile, the Thunder defense had a tough time getting the Vacaville offense off the field.
The Bulldogs built a 13-3 lead at the half with 10-yard run by Goins (129 rushing yards on 25 carries) and a 21-yard pass from Coleman Christiensen to Terrance Trueblood.
Mason and Trueblood added touchdown runs in the third quarter to extend the lead to 27-3.
"They're a tough team," Thunder center Matt Cochran said. "They hustle and they hustled harder than us. They did a good job of pursuing the ball. Their D-line did a good job of holding us back. They did a good job of scouting us."
The Thunder made the game interesting in the fourth quarter with two quick scores.
Buhach Colony basically went to a pistol formation with four wide receivers for most of the second half.
Tyler Dew scored on a 5-yard run. The BC defense then quickly forced a punt and Datray led the offense down the field. Roger Klauser hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass to cut Vacaville's lead to 27-17 with 3 minutes, 27 second left.
Covarrubias then recovered an onside kick to give BC the ball back at the 50-yard line.
However, Datray threw a pass just out of the reach of Miles on fourth down to turn the ball over on downs back to the Bulldogs, who ran out the clock.
Datray threw a season-high 23 passes. He completed 10 of them for 220 yards.
"Our kids stepped up late and did a great job," Buhach coach Kevin Swartwood said. "Our offense adjusted to their defense and our defense to their offense. It was just too late.
"We ran out of time."
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