The seniors on the Skyline High School football team sat at midfield of their home stadium. The scoreboard had long since turned dark, the student section empty.

They sat silently on a logo they’ll never celebrate a victory on.

Moments earlier, Temperance Bedford kicker Brendan Renius made an 18-yard field goal with just 11.2 seconds left in the game to give the Kicking Mules a 23-20 win on the final home game of the Eagles' season.

In its two years as a varsity program, the Eagles have never won at home. And the school's first senior class never will.

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In the middle of the solemn circle sat Skyline's leader, quarterback Andrew Copp. Copp wasn’t standing tall in helmet and shoulder pads as they all have known him, but with his head hung low, his powerful right arm lying lifeless across his body in a sling after apparently breaking a collarbone early in the second quarter.

“Copp is a tough kid, he likes to take on those hits, sometimes unnecessarily," said Skyline coach Rod Jones. "And because he's such a tough kid, he's got such a huge heart, he wants to win so badly for this team. I really feel badly for that young man.”

Before Copp left the game, Skyline looked ready to let its high-powered offense loose. After forcing Bedford to turn the ball over on downs on the game’s opening drive, Copp hit Jordan Woods on a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Eagles an early lead.

Skyline drove the field with Copp checking down to Jack Clark when Woods and his 6-foot-3 receiving partner, Theron Wilson, were double covered. As soon as Woods drew single coverage, Copp threw up a jump ball. Woods finished with four catches for 123 yards.

“That’s the best (receiving) corps besides Adrian that we faced all year and they do a great job of moving without the ball and getting open,” said Bedford coach Jeff Wood. "We play the run really well, we just have all these little mini-mes that are back in the secondary trying to cover 6-4 guys and that’s difficult for us."

It seemed the strategy would work all night, until on a possession following a Bedford touchdown Copp took off on a quarterback keeper and came down hard on his shoulder stretching for an extra yard.

Copp’s absence wasn’t felt immediately as Skyline (3-4, 1-4) took advantage of Bedford (5-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) biting on all rushing plays. Woods hooked up with Wilson on an end-around pass to go up 13-6 before the half. Bedford's entire defense collapsed on Woods and Wilson had no one near him when the pass was thrown.

"We had to make a huge adjustment, we haven't had to have a backup quarterback all year," Jones said. "They haven't needed one for four years, so it's a hell of a transition. I think the guys did outstanding, they stayed, they fought."

Skyline took the lead into the half and Bedford tied the score with a 12-yard Jonathan Prajzner run up the gut.

Skyline looked outmatched as the Kicking Mules drove 99 yards in just five running plays to go ahead 20-13 with 7:44 left in the game.

But Skyline tied the game on a 78-yard bomb from backup quarterback Nelson Hansen to Woods on the second play of the ensuing drive.

Skyline had no answer for Bedford's rushing attack, though, and Bedford took all but 11 seconds off the clock on the game-winning drive, marching down to the half-yard line before kicking the game-winner.

Bedford finished with three rushers over 100 yards. Quarterback Aaron Czesak ran 24 times for 128 yards and tailbacks Prajzner and Thomas Ferry gaining 148 and 104 yards, respectively.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on twitter @petcunningham.