Only the Tremper football team knows with 100 percent certainty whether it was looking ahead to Wednesday’s highly-anticipated regular-season finale against undefeated and state-ranked Bradford.

After Friday night’s 21-18 Southeast Conference loss to Racine Park at Ameche Field, which ended all Tremper hopes of winning a share of the league title, the answer to that question was mixed.

“I hate to say it but I think some kids were (looking ahead),” Tremper quarterback Jake Snell said. “I think this was kind of a sandwich week. We had a big win last week (against Oak Creek), and then we have a big game next week and the kids kind of thought we could just show up and play.

“But it doesn’t work that way.”

Said Tremper coach Frank Matrise: “No, we were focused at the task at hand. Turnovers and penalties hurt us. Everything crucial happened against us.”

There is definitely no debating that the Trojans (5-3, 4-2 SEC) were their own worst enemy against the Panthers (5-3, 4-2), who became playoff-eligible with the victory.

Tremper’s undoing started in the waning seconds of the first half. Tremper linebacker Vinny Fonk tackled Park’s Austin Goodman for a 1-yard loss on a third-down screen pass with 1 minute, 23 seconds remaining. But instead of fourth-and-9 coming up, Tremper was called for a roughing-the-passer penalty on the play, handing Park a first-and-goal at the Tremper 9.

After Jordan Payne (29 carries for 93 yards) made minimal gains on three consecutive runs up the middle, Park junior quarterback Gordy Bittner lofted a fourth-down pass to Troy Collier into the right corner of the end zone.

Collier outleaped Tremper defensive back Stephan Jackson for the ball and a 6-yard touchdown — his second TD catch of the game — with 3.2 seconds remaining to give Park a 14-10 halftime advantage.

“(That was) huge, huge,” Park coach Dennis Thompson said of the sudden momentum swing. “I thought we were going to run out of time, so we were talking about spiking it. But our (offensive coordinator Mike Kusters) said, ‘No, we’re going for it.’ I said, ‘Do your job.’ ”

Tremper’s Andrew Gray (28 carries for 216 yards), scored his second TD run of the night — an 18-yard burst up the middle in which he broke the initial tackle attempt at the line of scrimmage — with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter.

On the ensuing point-after, the snap to holder Peter McGinn was low so he scrambled right and threw the ball up for grabs in the end zone to Jordan Enwright, who made a 2-point catch in traffic that gave Tremper an 18-14 lead.

But that was the last bit of good fortune for the Trojans.

An illegal block penalty wiped out Darryl Thornton’s 63-yard punt return in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

Then Gray fumbled the ball away deep in Tremper territory on his team’s next two possessions. (Snell also fumbled three center exchanges that the Trojans kept in the second half, which was played in below-40 temperatures and a steady rain/sleet mix.)

Tremper made a goal-line stand the first time, but Ontrayell Stinson hauled in a 20-yard TD pass from Bittner on third-and-14 — only his third reception this season — to put Park ahead 21-18 with 6:58 remaining.

Bittner, playing QB extensively for only the second game this year, completed 11-of-21 passes for 153 yards and three TDs with no interceptions. And his 14-yard scramble on third-and-6 with slightly more than 2 minutes remaining allowed the Panthers to run out the clock.

Now, Tremper has no choice but to turn its attention to the Red Devils.

“I think the best thing we’ve got going is that we have five captains and senior leaders who want to step up and make sure everyone’s doing the work next week in practice and getting ready for the game,” Snell said.