MONTGOMERY — As the mercury dropped in the thermometer, the Keith High School Bears began to drop the ball in a 35-0 first round playoff loss to St. Jude.

Cold hands prevented the Bear offense from keeping a handle on the ball as multiple turnovers stalled an already handcuffed offense.

The Bears, Keith head coach Harry Crum said, came into the game with a one-dimensional attack.

“Jeremy [Crum] pulled a muscle last week, so he couldn’t pass the ball,” he said. “We moved Maurice [Crumpton] in there, but we had difficulty passing. This was a night where we needed to be able to pass the ball to win.”

The Bears played tough defense through the first half and ended the first quarter down only 6-0. The Bears made the Pirates work for their second score of the half as well and went into the locker room down only 14-0.

In the second half, the Bears literally had a hard time getting warm.

Keith constantly fumbled the ball on offensive possessions giving the Pirates a short field.

St. Jude made them pay immediately with a 36-yard pass on the first possession of the second half to go up 21-0 with 8:53 remaining in the third quarter.

The Priates then converted a fourth down play from the 12-yard line following another Keith turnover to go up 28-0 with 33 seconds remaining in the third.

St. Jude closed out the scoring with 11:28 remaining in the fourth on a 17-yard touchdown following a Keith miscue.

Crum summed the game up saying it just wasn’t the Bears night.

“Everything that could go wrong tonight did,” he said. “We just couldn’t hold onto to the ball in the second half.’

Despite the loss, Crum told his team he was proud of the effort and they were fortunate to have the opportunity to play one more week of football.

“We had six up and five down. There are about half the teams in the state that would trade places with us,” he said. “We got to go to the dance. It’s better to go to the dance and have to leave at 10 p.m. than to not get to go at all.’

Crum said he would miss his seniors, but felt confident about the underclassmen coming back for 2011.