The R word — recruiting — has plagued Skyline

"We just have to put them on our backs and carry them," Marshall told the others. "In every way, classroom, practices, we just have to help them more."

There is a belief among them that they can coach any group of players to a win; they just have to figure out how to reach them.

When they get back to the school after the Alta loss, they meet in their storied football field and each coach addresses the team. There is sadness, disappointment, even as the players fidget in the cold night air.

"I only know one answer," Dupaix said, "and that's to work harder. It's tough to do after a loss. Very tough. But we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves."

In the coach's office Dupaix tells his assistants to get some sleep, so they can be back at the school at 8 a.m. to watch film of the loss and the next opponent; he asks only one thing of his assistants, "Keep it positive."

The next morning they gather to watch the film. Going through the game in slow motion, listening to the coaches point out what went wrong, and more often, what went right. Suddenly, a blowout doesn't feel like a blowout. A game that was lost by five touchdowns evolves into a game that barely slipped through their grasp in the dim light of the Skyline locker room. "You can never allow them to accept losing," Marshall said.

A few days later, meeting with the team's defense, he turns to war analogies when talking about causes that appeared to be lost.

"They act like we've never played football before," he said. "We know how it feels to get beat. We've been beaten by 50 points before. We know what it's like to lose. That's why we try not to do it very often . . . ."

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com