The paddle is now in the hands of the Riverdale football team, and Boscobel remains winless.
That was the situation following the Bulldogs' 18-14 nail-biting SWAL loss to the Chieftains on Saturday at Riverdale.
"We played good defense," said Boscobel coach Todd Fischer, "but we struggled to get the big play we needed."
It appeared the Bulldogs, now 0-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play, might just get that first win of the season when Tom Moravits returned a fourth-quarter punt 47 yards late in the game to put Boscobel in position to take the lead.
However, Riverdale's Landon Tyler intercepted a pass in the end zone to halt the Bulldogs' drive.
Boscobel got the ball one more time, but the Bulldogs couldn't move the ball.
All of the scoring took place in a wild first half. The Chieftains got out to a 12-0 first quarter lead on a 15-yard touchdown run by Dakota Lins and an 80-yard scoring scamper by Cody Meckley.
Boscobel clamped down on defense, holding Riverdale's potent inside-outside running game to only six points the rest of the way.
"They were getting outside on us, and we got pinched inside," said Fischer. "We started controlling the inside, and that allowed us to secure the outside, as we got good pursuit to the ball."
As for Boscobel's offense, the Bulldogs responded after Riverdale's second touchdown with a scoring drive of their own. A big pass to Ryan Boebel set up Boebel's 5-yard touchdown run. Chase Varvil ran in the two-point conversion to make it 12-8.
Pulling out its bag of tricks, Riverdale scored on a wide-receiver reverse pass of 50 yards from Brandon Maloney to a wide-open Tyler.
Undeterred, Boscobel's embarked on a scoring drive of their own before half, with Moravits connecting with Zach Richards on an 11-yard touchdown pass.
But, that was it for points, as Boscobel just couldn't finish its second-half drives with points.
The back-breaker was Tyler's interception, though. Fisher thought that Moravits was one move away from making the punt a return a race down the sidelines for a touchdown.
About the play that led to the interception, Fisher said, "The play was there. It was just a lack of experience. If he had thrown the ball right off the receiver's break, the cornerback wouldn't have had as much time to recover."
Moravits was playing in just his second game as the Bulldogs' quarterback. Despite the pick, Moravits had a nice game, going 9-for-20 and throwing for 117 yards.
Richards led Boscobel in receiving, hauling in five receptions for 43 yards, including a spectacular diving catch near the Bulldogs' sidelines in the fourth quarter.
For the game, Boscobel rushed for 109 yards, compared to 270 for Riverdale. Meckley led the Chieftains with 127 yards on 10 carries. Varvil paced the Bulldogs with 56 yards on 11 carries.
Riverdale is now 3-5 overall and 1-5 in the SWAL.
Next up for Boscobel is a season-ending home game against Cuba City.