COQUILLE — It might have been the preseason, but Coquille’s one-point loss to visiting Creswell hurt just as bad as any playoff defeat might.

The Red Devils scored twice in the final quarter to pull within one point of the Bulldogs, but a potential go-ahead two-point conversion was ruled incomplete in the end zone and Creswell escaped with a 15-14 win.

After the game, several Coquille players had tears in their eyes.

“It’s a hard loss when you lose by one point,” said sophomore Coquille quarterback Heston Altenbach. “It was a heart-breaker.”

The teams played a scoreless first half, with nearly all the action on Creswell’s side of the field.

Coquille had the ball inside the Creswell 20 three times without scoring and the teams went to the locker room without any points on the board.

With both defenses dominating up front and bottling up the run, Creswell went to the air in the second half.

Quarterback Aleks Gabrio completed a 39-yard pass to Dalyn Stram and a 16-yard pass to Jasem Dulany to put the Bulldogs in scoring range on the opening possession of the second half. Aaron Painter saved the drive by recovering a fumble on third down and Stram caught a pass that had been tipped by a Coquille defender for a 4-yard score the next play for the game’s first touchdown.

The Bulldogs lined up to kick the extra point, but Coquille twice was offsides and Creswell went for the two-point conversion after the penalty, with Gabrio scoring on a bootleg.

Creswell added to the lead with 9:54 to go in the game when Gabrio connected with A.J. Beltran on an 8-yard slant pattern and Carlos Garcia put the conversion kick through the uprights.

Coquille struck back in quick fashion. On the second play after the touchdown, Buddy Parlier, last year’s starting quarterback and a running back this fall, hit Justin Lessley with a 57-yard halfback pass for a touchdown.

“It was perfect,” Lessley said of the pass, which was put where only Lessley could catch it in front of a Creswell defender. “I was able to out-run everyone.”

Altenbach scored on the conversion to cut the lead to 15-8 with 8:45 remaining.

Lessley then came up with a big defensive play, picking off a pass by Gabrio and returning it 56 yards to Creswell’s 14. The Red Devils eventually got to the 6, but couldn’t push the ball in as the Bulldogs threw Coquille for a loss on three straight plays and Altenbach’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

Just when the Bulldogs appeared to be in great shape, Coquille’s Tim Davis intercepted a pass and rambled 21 yards for the score.

That set up the key conversion play.

Altenbach rolled left and lofted the ball to James Baldridge, who appeared to come down with it in the end zone. The ball came loose when Baldridge hit the ground and the pass was ruled incomplete, though Coquille’s coaching staff said video would show it should have counted.

Needing just one first down to kill the clock, Gabrio hooked up with Dulany for 39 yards on a third-down play, securing the win.

“I trusted everyone would do their job,” Gabrio said of the last play, which was indicative of all Creswell’s big plays in the win.

“Our team played as a team,” he said. “At times, our offense had faults and at times our defense had faults, but it turned out to be all right.”

Meanwhile, Lessley was among the Coquille players broken up by the defeat, struggling to discuss the game.

Altenbach said how the team came back and then took the loss shows promise for the season.

“It showed the whole team has heart,” he said. “We have a lot of potential. We just have to come to practice and work hard.”

He noted that the first three quarters killed Coquille.

“They just out-hustled us,” he said, adding that “little mistakes and errors” were costly.

Coquille forced five turnovers — Mike Hashberger and Jason Smith recovered first-quarter fumbles and Hashberger also intercepted a pass on the final play of the first half — but couldn’t capitalize on its opportunities.

“A lot of that is the offense being so young,” said Coquille head coach John Breuer. “So many of them don’t have experience.”

While many of the players and fans were upset about the call on the two-point conversion, Coquille coach Breuer wasn’t among them.

“Officiating is a subjective business,” he said. “They make mistakes just like us. It’s not life or death.”

Plus, he said, winning isn’t the most important thing early in the year.

“With preseason games, it’s nice to win,” he said. “I wanted to get a test tonight. Creswell is a good team. That was a good test.”

Breuer was pleased with how Coquille battled back in the final quarter, something that might not have happened last year.

“The attitudes were great,” he said.

Notes: Neither team ran the ball well all night. Of 52 running plays, including several sacks, 37 went for 2 yards or less. Creswell managed 61 yards on 31 carries, while Coquille had 11 yards on 22 attempts. ... Gabrio completed 11 of 19 passes for 173 yards. ... Coquille hosts Illinois Valley in what should be another tough test next week before opening league play at home against Reedsport.