SANTO — The Santo football team entered Thursday night’s District 8-2A Division II matchup at W.A. Lewis Field with Lindsay knowing that it was already headed to the playoffs, but the Wildcats needed to beat the Knights to secure the No. 3 seed.

A rough six minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and start of the third put SHS in a hole it couldn’t dig out of in a 55-34 loss in the penultimate game of the regular season.

Santo will now close out the regular season with a road game at No. 7 Collinsville — which is tied for the district lead with No. 2 Muenster ahead of their Friday night showdown.