Don Hendrix didn’t have a very good weekend. He couldn’t get his mind off last Friday’s 14-13 loss to Wagoner in the regular-season finale, a loss that cost his Hilldale Hornets a spot in the playoffs.

“I was devastated (after the game), and the reason why is in the last two and one-half minutes, I didn’t do a very good job as a coach,” he said. “That’s why I haven’t slept all weekend. I woke up a couple of times on Saturday night wishing I can do something about it.”

With Wagoner out of time outs and Hilldale leading 13-7, the Hornets moved the ball to the Bulldogs’ 34 yard line and then fumbled. Wagoner recovered, marched down the field and scored the touchdown and got the crucial extra point with eight seconds left in the game.

Hendrix continued to lament about the loss. He second-guessed himself for not having his team take a knee to eat up more of the clock.

“If we had to punt it, they wouldn’t have enough time (for a drive). I’m a smarter coach than that, and I’ve been coaching long enough to know better than run a play up there.” Hendrix said. “I’ve been playing what if and why, why did I do it.”

Hendrix doesn’t need to kick himself for very long. He led the Hornets to a 5-5 season, an improvement from last year when they only won one game.

They also had a chance to beat Wagoner, which many didn’t think they could do and that’s a consolation for him and the Hornets.

“If you talked to most people going into last Friday, they were saying that if we played Wagoner close, everybody would be happy,” Hendrix said. “People told me that. A majority didn’t think we had a chance. The only people who did were our assistant coaches, and we convinced our players that we had a chance if we did things right.

“The Wagoner game also has to be a highlight (of the season). We played really well, and I can’t praise our coaches enough in getting our players ready. I thought our players did a good job reacting to what they saw. We moved the ball. That was the high point and the low point was the last two minutes.”

Another bad thing for Hendrix was a fire on Saturday night damaged part of the house he’s building in Fort Gibson. A wall and floor in the master bedroom were damaged. No one was hurt.

“We were lucky that there was a hydrant and water hose by where the fire started,” he said. “Because of the type of (log) house it is, it’ll take a pretty good effort to repair. It was just another addition to the weekend.”

Hendrix can start looking ahead to next season in which six defensive and five offensive starters return. Some of the returnees include quarterback Dalton Cunningham, running back Josh Cullom, tight end Dylan Farley and lineman Matt Brown.

“The cupboard won’t be bare,” Hendrix said.

But the question needs to be asked. Will Hendrix be back? He considered retiring after last season and said he’s not sure.

“I enjoyed this season, but I don’t know if we had won, I’d still be saying the same thing,” Hendrix said. “I don’t know the answer yet.”