Wagoner can start printing playoff tickets, while Hilldale only can wonder what if after the Bulldogs’ 14-13 win against the Hornets in the District 4A-4 and regular season finale for both teams at Hornet Stadium on Friday night.

Jimmy Carter plucked Prince McJunkins’ two-yard pass in the end zone with eight seconds left in the game and Josh Hewitt added the crucial extra point, sending the Bulldogs to the playoffs as the fourth-place team from 4A-4 with a 7-3 record.

“I got open and saw it all the way to my arms,” Carter, a sophomore, said. “I thought (McJunkins) got sacked, and I stood there for a moment. When he popped out, I moved around to get open. This is really big. I’m just thinking we’re going to the next level.”

Unfortunately for Hilldale, it is not going.

A fumble by Dalton Pantle at the Wagoner 34-yard line turned the ball over to Wagoner for that last drive. Kevin Peterson stripped the ball out of Pantle’s hands and Carter recovered.

Still, the Hornets had a chance to hold on for the victory. The Hornets had stopped Wagoner at the Hilldale 4, but a pass interference penalty on fourth-down moved the ball to the 2 and gave Wagoner a fresh set of downs.

The lost fumble was the second one of night among the four the Hornets had. Hilldale finished the season at 5-5 after going 1-9 in 2008.

Hilldale can just think about what would’ve happened if it had fumbled or had the penalty.

“I don’t know what happened on the touchdown, though,” Hornets coach Don Hendrix said. “They took the ball away from him (on the fumble). I thought he was down. You can’t win the argument there. We hold onto the football there and we win the game.

“I thought our kids played hard enough to win the game. The interference call was a big call. It was just one of those games that happened that way. I thought we had prepared them well on offense and defense.”

Hilldale scored its first touchdown on a 25-yard interception return by Dylan Farley with 6:29 left in the first period. After Wagoner tied the scored at 7-7, Taylor Capps kicked field goals of 24 and 29 yards in the second and third quarters, respectively to increase the Hornets’ lead to 13-7.

Hilldale piled up 273 yards rushing as a team and Josh Cullom led the way with 104 yards on 18 carries.

Wagoner got its other touchdown on a four-yard touchdown run by Peterson for his only carry of the game. McJunkins completed 10 of 18 passes for 127 yards. The junior quarterback ran 11 yards and tossed a 38-yard pass in that final drive before the winning touchdown.

With Wagoner playing the 4A-3 champion Jay next week, Dale Condict, the Bulldogs’ coach, breathed a sigh of relief after the game.

“I really felt like it would come down to a late fourth quarter situation,” he said. “The play before the kid fumbled, I thought we were beat. I was taking my headphones off. Coaches were coming down from the box. Fortunately for us, Jimmy Carter and Kevin Peterson didn’t give up.”