Waterford — In the middle of the locker room stood two high school kids Monday night, wet from sweat and wetter from the night's steady rain, who were modern day adaptations of strangers in a strange land.

Imagine: A locker room that Ryan Bakken and Payton Sutman had inhabited all season, familiar with all the inside jokes, pep talks and odors that make the locker room sacred and great, but feeling eerily out of place.

"I had forgotten what it was like to lose a state tournament game," (an injured) Sutman said, among all his teammates. "I honestly don't remember."

"I haven't lost a state tournament game. I really don't think ever. Not in baseball or basketball," Bakken said. "It sucks."

A primer on the two kids: Bakken and Sutman are seniors at Waterford High and owners of state championship rings in basketball (2018, 2019) and baseball (2019). They brought their mojo to football this year, leading the Lancers into a foreign land, namely the state semifinals, already having authored the first postseason win in the football program's history.

And here they were, with straight and earnest faces, talking about how they'd forgotten what it's like to lose. Anyone who knows the rhythms of high school sports — any sports, really — know that losing is always part of the deal. Always. Except in Waterford. Maybe that's why GameDay play-by-play voice Casey O'Neill called Waterford "Titletown" during Monday's webcast.

In the last 10 years, Waterford High has won state championships in basketball (three), softball (three), baseball (two), volleyball, girls' soccer, wrestling and cheerleading. Division and conference championships in other sports as well. A decade of winning across different sports and genders we've never really seen here from one school.

So maybe Monday's 35-7 loss to Killingly happened just to remind the collective psyche of the 06385 that winning is really hard after all. It is, you know. Kids just don't ever say they'd forgotten what it's like to lose.

It's quite possible the Killingly machine would have trampled Waterford eventually Monday night anyway. But if nothing else, the Lancers learned all over again the luck necessary to win championships. Luck. You know things like Jeffrey Maier ... The Tuck Rule ... all the way to Monday when an inadvertent whistle cost Waterford dearly.

The Lancers had a 7-0 lead late in the first half when Killingly quarterback Jacob Nurse found teammate Kameron Crowe yawningly open downfield. Crowe caught the ball and began charging to the end zone, until Waterford's Trey Brennan not only ran him down, but punched the ball loose. The Lancers pounced on the ball, appearing to recover and continue the theme of how "any given Sunday" applies to Mondays, too.

Ah, but the officials intervened, ruling that a whistle blew inadvertently when Brennan punched the ball loose, thus causing Killingly players to stop and not pursue the fumble.

"They blew the whistle as the ball was coming out," Killingly coach Chad Neal said. "That's an inadvertent whistle, not a fumble, and they don't get the ball."

Brennan: "All I know is that (Crowe) got by our second level. I was able to catch up to him and punch it out. We got the ball back or at least I thought we did. I didn't hear a whistle. I didn't stop and neither did No. 24 (Crowe)."

Waterford coach John Strecker: "You could look at it like, OK, that's a big turning point, but then again their guy was uncovered. He could just as easily have been in the end zone. I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about that."

The play caused much confusion and consternation. Killingly was awarded the ball back at the original line of scrimmage and outscored Waterford 35-0 from there.

Again: Maybe Killingly rolls anyway. Or maybe not. There is such a thing as the Fallacy of Predetermined Outcome, remember. Either way, it's exactly the kind of call that has gone Waterford's way in so, so, so many previous state tournaments in other sports.

"It's easier to see the plays and calls that go against you," Bakken said. "We've gotten some calls. We won a basketball semifinal on a call like that last year. It goes both ways. Bottom line, we didn't do enough the whole game. But that was a big one."

Strecker: "You are not going to win a championship without at some point having some good luck. Maybe that's their good luck. That stuff happens."

It sure does. In Waterford's favor mostly over the past decade. It's why two high school kids didn't know the feeling of losing Monday night — even though losing is one of the most commonplace feelings in all of sports.

It was a landmark football season in the 06385. They were, indeed, strangers in a strange land, going where no football team had ever gone. And in losing Monday, the Lancers showed all the true blessings that have come with winning.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro