ABERDEEN – A proper term for the top-two showdown between Aberdeen and Declo on Friday was announced by the Aberdeen public announcer, who simply told the crowd it was “fun.”

There was nothing on the line, but a nonconference win, and therefore not insanely intense pressure. But there were two state title contenders battling it out en route to a 22-14 loss by No. 2 Aberdeen, which was not devastated by defeat because of how good the Tigers did against the defending 2A state champion and No. 1 ranked team in 2A.

“Honestly, I think this loss is probably the best thing that can happen to us,” Aberdeen coach Jeff Duffin said. “I never like to lose. I hate it. But you know what, we’re going to go to work, and we’re going to be a lot better football team because of this loss tonight. They believe they can win now, for sure. We know we can play with that team.”

Aberdeen (1-1) jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the start of the second quarter before Declo (2-0) scored a touchdown apiece in each of the last three quarters.

While Aberdeen stopped scoring in the last 32 minutes of the game, the Tigers did not stop charging down the field against a dominant Declo defense, which held 3A Sugar-Salem to 14 points in a Week-1 win.

It was as much the Tigers’ fault than the Hornets that Aberdeen did not score on its three second-half drives that all ended inside Declo’s 30 yard-line.

Tigers quarterback Matthew Klassen, who had 239 yards rushing and two TDs on 20 carries, had a 55-yard carry on his team’s first drive of the third quarter. The Tigers were 20 yards from adding a touchdown to their 14-8 lead. But instead, the next three plays turned the trajectory of the game.

The Tigers fumbled the ball away two plays after the big run, and star Declo running back Keegan Duncan finally found an opening for an 85-yard touchdown run on the next play. After McKay Breshears ran the ball into the end zone for the two-point conversation, Declo was ahead 16-14 with 7:03 left in the third quarter.

Not that Aberdeen stopped trying to take the lead back. The Tigers marched from their 20 to Declo’s 6 on the next drive, buoyed by a 17-yard run and 17-yard pass by Klassen. But the Tigers had a loss of four yards on a bobbled snap and a false start by the field goal team from Declo’s 10. Then, their field goal was blocked, instead of giving Aberdeen a 17-16 third-quarter lead.

Aberdeen’s last drive of the game, while down 22-14, had its own painful conclusion. On 4th and 2 from Declo’s 28, Angel Lemos collected 99 percent of the yardage required.

The chains were pulled out, the referees looked at the ball for a painfully climactic long period, but they ruled Lemos was short. Declo ran out the last 6:55 of the clock. Duncan, a Boise State commit, finished with 167 yards rushing on 20 carries, still an improvement for Aberdeen from when he compiled 283 yards rushing in a 2016 state semifinal win over the Tigers.

“We’ve got to clean up some executional things,” Duffin said. “Ultimately, we stopped ourselves.”

But Duffin was still OK afterward. He said he did not even pull out every trick the team had against Declo. The teams may face each other again, after all, when the stakes are high and another word may be used to describe the experience instead of “fun,” like “agonizing.”

“Credit to Declo, that’s a good football team,” said Duffin, whose team hosts North Fremont next Friday. “We’re both a couple solid football teams that have championship potential, if we keep playing well.”

VIDEO: Aberdeen/Declo