That’s why they play the game.

Hundreds of soccer fans stood silent Thursday, mouths agape, as one of the state’s titans, the St. Pius X boys, lost 3-2 in double overtime to Piedra Vista in the Class 4A quarterfinals at the APS complex.

Stunning hardly seems an appropriate enough word. Unprecedented? Better.

Really, how do we put the magnitude of the moment into context? There’s almost no reference point here.

St. Pius has been in a state championship game for 16 straight seasons, every year since 1993, about the same time some of these current Sartans were born.

This program had never lost a state quarterfinal game. Until Thursday.

The Sartans were a seven-time defending state champion and a No. 1 seed favored to make it eight in a row. Just a few weeks ago in Sacramento, they took the No. 6 team in the country to the wire.

And yet, today, the Sartans wake up and don’t have any more soccer engagements for 2009.

St. Pius was slayed by a most unlikely opponent, a Piedra Vista program that has never been to a championship game and was a middling No. 8 seed. A seed the Panthers thought was disrespectful.

“We are very amazed,” said senior Devin Santillanes, whose goal in OT generated enormous buzz. “Words can’t explain how big it is.”

Is there a precedent? Hard to say. How about when Sandia was No. 4 in the country in 1999 and lost 2-1 to Manzano in what was then the 4A championship game? Thursday’s might have been more surprising, if only because Piedra Vista had six losses and was a No. 8 seed.

Let’s see if we can mainstream this a little.

Imagine the Hobbs boys basketball team coming to Albuquerque as a seven-time defending state champ, and losing in the quarterfinals — as a No. 1 seed — to, say, West Mesa.

As dynasties go, St. Pius boys soccer is the gold standard.

The single-game shock-value quotient here is off the charts, like 1980 U.S. Hockey team-shocking. The odds on the Panthers winning Thursday? 25-1? 50-1? It’s in that ballpark.

“Expectations are just so high,” a despondent St. Pius coach Mike Strati said. “Maybe unjustifiably so.”

The Sartans (16-5) had a 2-0 lead early, but Piedra Vista (16-6) hung around. The Panthers tied the game on a penalty kick, forcing OT.

Now, as this is the first year for state at the APS complex, the question of the field dimensions — much smaller and quicker than the all-grass pitches at Bernalillo — was naturally brought up by many people. Was it a factor?

Probably, to a degree. The Sartans almost certainly would rather have spread Piedra Vista out and played ball control on a wider field.

And, it must be noted that the winning goal started on what was about a 50-yard kick from deep in Piedra Vista’s end. (Could Piedra Vista  have played that same ball on a longer, grass field?) The long pass created an instant opportunity for Santillanes, who had the angle and finagled a shot around goalkeeper Tim Lange. It bounced slowly into the net. Bedlam ensued.

In the aftermath, there was some shouting and a little pushing between the teams. Admittedly for St. Pius, this one was tough to digest.

“We got beat by a lesser-skilled team that took advantage of our mistakes,” said Sam Paterniti, one of 11 seniors.

Aside from Piedra Vista, the only people clearly celebrating were the giddy Los Alamos boys, who now avoid St. Pius in today’s semifinals.

And while upstart Piedra Vista starts from scratch again today, a huge underdog once more, the St. Pius dynasty is just plain scratched.

Goliath surely has seen better days.