SUN PRAIRIE ? The looks of shock and disappointment in the eyes of Ben Carey and Jack Romsos were undeniable Saturday evening.

The Neenah boys lacrosse seniors had just seen their championship dreams dashed in the final 90 seconds of regulation at Bank of Sun Prairie Stadium in the Rockets' 7-6 loss to Middleton in the inaugural WIAA state championship game.

The pain of this one isn't going away anytime soon.

“That’s gonna sting for a long time,” Carey said. “Being that close and then having it ripped right out of your hands ... it’s going to hurt. I’m going to think about that for a while.”

Neenah stood toe-to-toe with Middleton, the favorite coming into the game. Middleton had knocked off top-ranked and previously undefeated Waunakee to reach the title game, but Rockets head coach Eric Marsh saw some matchups he liked in favor of his Rockets.

Middleton held a clear advantage in shots in the first half (21-6) and led 3-2 heading into halftime after a goal from Gabe Passini with 31 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Cardinals' Troy Teff put Middleton ahead 4-2 just over a minute into the second half, but the Rockets got a pair of scores from Evan Hans to tie the game 4-4 heading into the final period.

An untimely turnover led directly to a goal from Middleton's James Grosspietsch, but that was answered quickly by Neenah with Jackson Brown powering in a goal just a minute later to even the score once more.

The Rockets scored again with 6:16 left in regulation with Owen Grotenhuis getting the goal and Neenah was able to turn away a few shots over the next four minutes to keep Middleton at bay.

Middleton's Roan Johnson broke through with 1:27 left to tie the game and the Cardinals took advantage of miscommunication in the Rockets' backfield to score again with 37 seconds left when Passini found Arjay Johnson for a goal.

"We had them," Marsh said. "But someone has to lose the game. We had it with just over 90 seconds left ... we just kind of petered out in the mind department, the IQ department. (Middleton) took advantage of it and kudos to them. They got those two plays late and ended up with the win."

Carey said one of the aspects of the game plan was to match Middleton's athleticism.

"That team has unbelievable talent and they're really well-coached and a high-powered offense," he said. "We had to try and match their athleticism on the field. I feel we did a pretty good job of that and we did all we could."

Marsh agreed.

"Our defense has been our rock all year," he said. "And it showed again today. I think Jack played his best game in the net. He was unbelievable."

Romsos recorded 18 saves and helped hold Middleton to its second-lowest goal total of the season.

"It was definitely the best game I had all season," Romsos said. "Feel like a lot of the pressure built up and ended up coming to this moment today where I'm like, 'This is the last game I got.' And I felt like I left it all out there, which I'm really proud of."

Neenah says goodbye to a solid group of seniors including Carey, Romsos, Hans, Grotenhuis, Chase Collins, Jack Meixl and Luke Keller.

"The season went by quick," Romsos said. "And you don't realize it's over until you wake up today and remember you're going to state today and you're not going to play another lacrosse game after that."

Marsh said this was the start of something big for the Neenah program.

"I think it's massive with the exposure and the kids in the youth program that see this," he said. "The kids in our community see this. And the value in getting here in Year 1 and playing a game like this, the value is off the charts. We're going to see it resonate for a lot of years."

Neenah 0 2 2 2 - 6

Middleton 0 3 1 3 - 7

Neenah (14-6): Goals - Evan Hans 3, Jackson Brown, Owen Grotenhuis, Keane Sullivan. Assists - Brown, Lenny Coulman. Saves: Jack Romsos 18.

Middleton (19-3): Goals - Troy Teff 2, James Grosspietsch 2, Gabe Passini, Roan Johnson, Arjay Johnson. Assists -Passini 2, Johnson. Saves: Kyle Ballweg 6.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah Rockets boys lacrosse team falls in WIAA state title game