Airport students cheer for their team during the opening kickoff in the playoff game against Lake City at Airport High. Photo by Jeff Blake/ ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com When W.T. Murden looks back at the 2009 football season, he will recall something other than the wins, the statistics, or the plays.

“I’m going to remember our bond,” the Airport quarterback said. “I broke some records, but that doesn’t matter to me as much as the chemistry we shared. A lot of teams have one or two players who are attitude problems and bring everyone down. But this generation at Airport, for whatever reason, was lucky. Everyone was all heart and had no problems. And, we showed that when everyone is working together, you can do something special.”

That they did – despite a season–ending 33–22 loss to Lake City (11–1) in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs on Nov. 13.

• Airport finished 11–1 after the program’s first undefeated regular season.

Airport quarterback W.T. Murden is brought down by Lake City's Domanic Wilson. Photo by Jeff Blake/ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com • The team rallied from 18–points down to win its first–round playoff game.

• The team rewrote the school record book, as coach Kirk Burnett described it: “The best offensive year (503 points) in the school’s 45–year history.”

• This year’s seniors went 30–6 during their last three seasons.

“I’ll look at the 10–0 regular season, my fellow seniors, that leadership we provided,” linebacker Shawn Felder said. “I don’t regret anything about the whole year.”

Though he certainly had misgivings about the final game.

Airport, not wanting to play from behind against the run–oriented Panthers, won the opening toss and took the ball. Then the Eagles came out running.

Airport’s Josh Salley dives for extra yardage against Lake City. Photo by Jeff Blake/ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com “We’ve been throwing a lot in previous games, so we tried to do the opposite and catch them off–guard,” Murden said.

Airport marched to the 23 before a fourth–and–5 pass was broken up. By the time the Eagles produced their next first down – late in the second quarter – they trailed 14–0.

“We had to score in that first drive and didn’t,” Burnett said. “Then we got down to the 3 (trailing 27–14 at the start of the fourth quarter) and went the other way. We had to play a perfect football because they were a little bit bigger and little bit faster than we were.”

Lake City was nearly perfect. It scored on all but three of its possessions. The first of those was ended by a fumble inside the red zone (on the Panthers first possession). The second consumed the final 24 seconds of the half. The last produced a fourth–quarter punt.

Airport’s Ryan Smith scores a touchdown in the third quarter against Lake City. Photo by Jeff Blake/ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com The Panthers’ chief weapon was Shon Carson, who rushed for 284 yards on 33 carries including an 80–yard touchdown on the third play of the second half that gave Lake City a 21–7 lead. Carson finished with three scores, giving him 32 on the season (2,030 yards). Though Airport defenders regularly got hands on him in the backfield, they couldn’t put a body on the junior, who shed the arm tackles with ease.

Airport stayed within striking distance through three quarters thanks to a 14–yard pass from Murden to senior Derek Cushman in the final minute of the second quarter and a 5–yard scoring run by senior Ryan Smith on the Eagles’ first possession of the second half. Airport’s last score came in the final 10 seconds on a 2–yard pass from Murden to senior Josh Salley.

Murden, Airport’s dual threat quarterback finished with 85 yards rushing and 120 yards passing to five receivers. Smith led Airport in rushing with 112 yards on 19 carries.