The proverbial tent could have been folded on Navarro College’s football season in the middle of the third quarter of the Bulldogs’ fourth game.

That’s when quarterback Milton Howell grabbed his foot in pain at the end of a 26-yard gain against Tyler.

The Bulldogs responded by pasting Tyler that evening, 61-28, and won their next six games with two first-year quarterbacks at the helm.

Forget, for now, the disappointment of losing to Blinn in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference title game for the second season in a row at Tiger Stadium. Instead, focus on the remarkable 11-1 season that ended with a Heart of Texas Bowl victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast College.

“The defining moment of our season was how we came back to win conference and win 11 games after losing a kid that means so much to the team,” said Navarro Coach Nick Bobeck. “It’s a testament to the kids who replaced Milton and to the other players who rallied around them. It takes a lot to go 11-1. Toughness. Resilience. Togetherness.

“But everyone looks at that the loss to Blinn in the conference championship and tries to define our season by that one game. Sure, we were three or four plays from playing for the national championship, but in my eyes our season was still an immense success.”

Oh, that loss. Two weeks after defeating Blinn in the regular season finale, Navarro dropped a 45-34 decision to the Bucs. While Navarro would easily handle Mississippi Gulf Coast, 37-26, in Copperas Cove, Blinn needed a long punt return in the final minute to defeat Coffeyville, Kan. and win the national championship.

Even the strongest-willed of people would have trouble ignoring just how close the Bulldogs were to claiming their first national title since 1989. Bobeck’s not immune from disappointment, but he’s also proud of a two-year run of 21-2 with his sophomores.

“We’d like to have played for the national championship and we were very closing to achieving that goal,” he said. “But what our sophomores accomplished over two years is remarkable. No one else in the country can match their record. They played exceptional both years at Navarro.”

But it was two freshmen who helped keep 2009 from unraveling. Howell, who signed with Tulsa earlier this month, went down having rushed for 399 yards and two touchdowns and completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 764 yards and nine scores against only two interceptions.

In the breach stepped Brant Costilla and Roddy Green. Costilla would complete 46 of 71 passes (64.8 percent) for 606 yards and six touchdowns. Because his running ability was a better fit for the Navarro offense, Green eventually assumed the starting quarterback job. Although he completed only 50.8 percent of his attempts, Green passed for 956 yards and 11 touchdowns and also rushed for 402 yards and three scores.

The simplicity of the Bulldog offense helped in the transition, Bobeck says.

“We try not to outsmart our kids,” he said. “We have a simple scheme because we only have them for two years. We try to teach the fundamentals and try not to be too complicated.

“That gave (Costilla and Green) the ability to come in and figure it out quickly. We run the inside and outside zone, the power and the counter. It makes it simple to plug in somebody and play at a high level.

“Our execution on offense was a lot better than the last two years. Truthfully, on the offensive side of the ball, we did not have an explosive player outside of Derrick (Hall, who had 1,011 yards, 14 touchdowns rushing). But we executed extraordinarily well most of the season and that’s why we had (447 yards and 37.3 points per game.)”

If the offense executed well, the defense was downright flawless at times. Headlined by six players who would receive Division I scholarships, the Bulldog defense was intimidating through its own simplicity.

Rarely bringing more than four players on the pass rush, Navarro recorded 32 sacks, 77 quarterback pressures and 63 tackles for loss. The intense pressure on the quarterback led to a nation-leading 25 interceptions, including three or more by five players.

Linebacker Brad Graham, the NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year, was the catalyst with team highs in tackles (106) and tackles for loss (13). Graham signed with the University of North Texas.

Defensive end Brandon Joiner stayed relatively injury-free as a sophomore and led the team with 11 sacks and 20 quarterback pressures. He signed with Colorado State.

The defense was impressive in many ways. The sack total was great, as was the interceptions. But the Bulldogs held opponents to zero or negative yardage on 37 percent of their snaps. The only problem was opponents averaged about 11 more offensive plays that Navarro, leaving even the deepest of defensive teams gasping for air a bit late in games.

“The great thing about the defense this year is that somebody always stepped up when somebody went down with an injury,” Bobeck said. “We were fortunate that we had incredible depth that allowed us to have the people to step up.

“We knew we weren’t going to blitz a whole lot and we got beat only a few times on big balls deep. We made our opponents drive the football and that proved to be our Achilles’ Heel. We gave up very few big balls, but we left our defense on the field too much and we had too many snaps. Maybe we’ll look at taking some more risks in the future on defense.”

That future includes a host of newcomers in 2010. The Bulldogs will return only three starters on defense, but will have seven regulars back on offense.

“We’ve got some work to do on recruiting and looking at transfers,” Bobeck said. “But we’ve set the bar very high at Navarro College and we’re going to have some great competition this spring among the players coming back. I’m excited about our future. We’re going to achieve some great things here.”

There’s only one thing left to accomplish after going 21-2 in two years, and that’s earning that nice trophy that resides in Brenham these days.