DUBUQUE – The night's mission was a season salvage project, plain and simple.

Friday night was about icing a painful losing streak, validating the countless hours of work Cedar Rapids Jefferson players and coaches had put into their disappointing 2013 season and upending a conference rival as hungry for a win as the J-Hawks were.

“We've been so bad for so long, but these kids were dedicated,” Jefferson Coach Brian Webb said.

Try as it fiercely might, Jefferson couldn't end an ultra-frustrating campaign on a winning note at Dalzell Field.

Parker Hammel powered through the J-Hawk defensive line for three first-quarter touchdowns to set the tone of Dubuque Senior's 28-17 victory over Jefferson in the season finale for both teams.

But in the end, the J-Hawks went down fighting, with quarterback Layne Sullivan capping a determined game-ending drive with a 7-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left.

“It was good to go out like that,” Sullivan said.

The game frustratingly matched the overriding story line of the J-Hawks' season: An overmatched team whose varsity roster numbers just 40 going all out for four quarters but falling short again. History will show the 2013 Cedar Rapids Jefferson J-Hawks as a 1-8 football club, but Webb will remember his crew as a team that played hard to the final whistle, regardless off the odds, opponents or adversity.

“They are a team that never quit,” Webb said. “They always left it all on the field. But it's tough to win in this league when you have 40 players."

The evening started on a positive note for Jefferson (1-8, 1-5 MVC Mississippi) when Kevonte Jones busted into the end zone for a 6-yard scoring run just 2:50 in on the game's opening drive. But Senior had the perfect counter in Hammel, who was coming off a monstrous 309-yard performance against Waterloo East.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound power back bullied his way through Jefferson's line for first-quarter scores of 6, 27 and 1 yards as Senior (4-5, 3-3) played smashmouth football sprinkled with effective play-action passing to gain its 11-point halftime lead. Senior, a team that saw its own playoff dreams die with crosstown rival Hempstead's loss to Cedar Falls on Thursday, was also playing for pride and validation of a season that began with legitimate hopes of making a run at a MVC title and the UNI-Dome. And Senior, which had been moving the ball on the ground at will the last couple weeks, based its game plan on controlling and moving the line of scrimmage.

“We definitely thought we could control the game (up front),” Hammel said, “especially the way we'e been going the past couple weeks. We (seniors) knew this was the last time we were going to playing at Dalzell. We knew this was the last time we would wear Rams red together.”

Jefferson's downfall on this chilly autumn night was familiar: Turnovers, defensive breakdowns and a fatal inability to keep drives alive on third down. A lost fumble and an ill-timed Sullivan intercepted killed a pair of promising Jefferson drives.

“That's been the story of our season,” Webb said. “Turnovers, dropped passes and defensive breakdowns.”

Hammel delivered a powerhouse, chain-moving 32-carry, 171-yard performance, the limited J-Hawks offense couldn't match. Hammel's three-touchdown first-quarter show put Senior up for good, and Jefferson couldn't rally, despite the best, extremely dedicated efforts of Sullivan (12-for-24 passing for 160 yards, 19 carries for 78 yards).

But the J-Hawks' motor churned to the end. On their final drive of the season, Sullivan found a groove with receivers with Michael Moncivias and Ben Koering, moved the chains for five first downs and drove Jefferson 76 yards to a score.

For a senior class that had long thought it could be – and never stopped trying to be – the group that reversed the fortunes of a long-struggling program, it was affirmation of how hard they have played the past four years for Jefferson.

“It's been a tough four years,” Sullivan said. “Ever since grade school, we thought we'd be the group that turned things around. But it's been a great four years. (That last drive) showed the heart of this team. Nobody ever quit. I'm going to miss playing with these guys.”

DUBUQUE SENIOR 28, JEFFERSON 17

CRJ     DS
First downs            13              14
Rushes-yards       31-151        48-194
Passing yards        160             143
Comp-att-int      12-24-1        11-17-0
Fumbles-lost         2-1              1-1
Punts-avg.          38.2            3-34.5
Penalties-yards     5-30            3-15

Jefferson             7   3   0   7 - 17
Dubuque Senior  21   0   7   0 - 28

CRJ – Kevonte Jones 6 run (Nicholas Rocha kick)
DS – Parker Hammel 6 run (John Kloft kick)
DS –Hammel 28 run (Kloft kick)
DS – Hammel 1 run (Kloft kick)
CRJ – FG Rocha 41
DS – Sam Jaeger 14 pass from Austin Clemens (Kloft kick)
CRJ – Layne Sullivan 7 run (Rocha kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing
CRJ: Layne Sullivan 19-78, Ben Koering 3-35, Kevonte Jones 5-26, Michael Moncivais 4-10, Nicholas O'Connell 1-4, Trae Geslig 1-(-2).
DS: Parker Hammel 32-171, Michael Williams 10-13, Austin Clemens 5-14, Sam Jaeger 1-(-4).

Passing
CRJ: Sullivan 12-24-1-160.
DS: Clemens 11-17-0-143

Receiving
CRJ: Koering 5-56, Gesling 2-22, Moncivais 2-22, Nicholas O'Connell 1-2.
DS: Jaeger 7-128, Hammel 2-9, Williams 1-3.