Last Friday was one of the toughest nights ever for the Gateway football team.

For the third year in a row the Gators walked off the Heinz Field turf and journeyed back out the Parkway East to Monroeville carrying the runner-up trophy following the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game.

Perhaps the worst part for Gateway, a team that was averaging 45 points per game, was the fact it was shut out by Woodland Hills, 10-0.

Terry Smith felt his players' frustration.

The Gators' coach especially felt heartache for his senior class that lost just four games in the past three years. For the second consecutive year, Gateway (12-1) entered the championship game undefeated.

"That was the toughest thing," Smith said. "We worked extremely hard toward getting to that point, and to see your seniors put forth such an effort and come up short is the toughest part.

"I've been around football for a long time now and I can handle the losing; you win some games and you lose some games. You can deal with the losing, but nothing is tougher than when you have to challenge yourself with that experience three years in a row."

Smith's Gators were highly touted in 2007 and 2008, but they lost to Central Catholic by a point, 35-34, two years ago and then fell to Bethel Park by four points, 10-6, last season.

"I thought this was a very successful season," Smith said. "Considering we entered the year not ranked and many people didn't even consider us a team that could make it to the final game says a lot about the work and effort the team put forth. There was no hype surrounding this team at the beginning of the year and we still played tremendously and made it to the championship game."

The Gators cruised through the regular season undefeated and went a perfect 6-0 in the Foothills Conference. Gateway finished the season outscoring opponents on average, 41.8-7.6. Only Class A Clairton is averaging more points a game with 43.1.

Smith can attribute his team's success to his senior class, which fielded some of the WPIAL's top talent this season.

Running back/defensive back Orne Bey, wide receiver/defensive back Brendon Felder and quarterback Rob Kalkstein were selected to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Fabulous 22 all-star squad. Receiver Dayonne Nunley, running back Markie'd Jones and receiver Stephen Vranka, all seniors, also played key roles for the Gators.

Bey, Nunley and Felder are headed to Division I programs with Bey and Nunley going to Miami University (Ohio) and Felder committed to North Carolina.

Bey, 5 feet 9 and 175 pounds, rushed for 817 yards and 12 touchdowns on 95 carries, while Felder (6-0, 171), a transfer from the Boston area, paced the team with 19 touchdowns and 681 yards on 86 attempts. Nunley (5-8, 165) caught 20 passes and scored nine touchdowns.

"Orne stepped up big time by leading us in rushing," Smith said. "He's going to have a great opportunity next year [at Miami] and earned his scholarship.

"Brendon is an explosive player. He was the guy we went to when we needed a big play."

Kalkstein (5-10, 170) directed Gateway's offense. He set a school single-season record for touchdown passes with 26 and finished with 2,148 yards passing this season.

Kalkstein completed 371 of 690 attempts for 6,501 career yards to rank third best in WPIAL history.

"Rob was big-time for us," Smith said. "To finish third all-time in the WPIAL for passing yards says it right there. He had a great career. He had 40 victories during his high school career and displayed great leadership.

"He did tremendous things for the program."

Smith knows his offensive line, which consisted of seniors Mitchell DeVall (6-1, 320), Omarr Finn (6-3, 270), Tyler Coles (5-8, 285), John Delorenzo (5-8, 250) and junior Jason Crystal (5-10, 220), was the driving force in his skill players earning such accomplishments.

"They led us all year and those guys were the same guys on the offensive and defensive line," he said. "They created the openings and helped us make the big plays. They were consistent all year."

Smith also believes that offensive line will be tough to replace come next season.

"We have to go back at it next season," he said. "When you look at the kids we bring back, a lot of them have plenty of game experience.

"We're going to look at guys like [junior wide receiver] Dondi Kirby, our fullback [junior] Demond Haynes, who is a Division I prospect, and [junior running back] Nolan Toran to step into a bigger role. We have a lot of talent coming back.

"The key will be to fill that quarterback position and the offensive line. We have a great nucleus to build around."

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