Although the Merrill Bluejays fell to the Kimberly Papermakers in Friday night's game, hundreds of fans still caught a glimpse of history.

The Division 2 state semifinal was the furthest a Merrill High School football team has ever advanced in the playoffs. In fact, the Bluejays had never won a football playoff game until this season.

A sea of blue took over Stiehm Stadium as Merrill fans filled every spot on the visitor benches and started to infiltrate the home team bleachers near the Kimberly band.

Current and former Merrill High School students and football players from teams past cheered on their team.

"This is history," said Linda Ament of Merrill. "For 112 years, Merrill has not gotten this far."

Ament, who graduated from Merrill in 1965, wore a Bluejays sweat shirt to cheer on her grandson, Zach Ament, a linebacker on the team.

While she has attended many of Zach's sporting events in the past, Ament said she was especially excited to see him help the team make history Friday night.

"It's been good to see our schoool defeat other teams," Ament said. "For years, we've been the underdogs."

Joel Schult, 30, of Wausau said he was proud to see the Bluejays beat good teams this year. He played football at Merrill before graduating in 1997.

"They've got some size and skill players," Schult said.

Sarah Koss, 40, of Merrill said she has seen the players working together to make the team successful.

Her son, Dylan, a junior cornerback on the team, started playing football on the junior varsity team last year.

"I think it's amazing that he gets to be a part of this history," Koss said. "It's a feeling of overwhelming amazement. I'm speechless."

A group of students sitting in the bleachers didn't let their front-row view of history keep them from expressing their excitement.

"We're going all the way," Austin Bonnell, 15, of Merrill said as the team made their way onto the field.

Emma Sowieja, 16, of Merrill said she stepped up her school spirit a notch to show her support for the team in the hopes they would make it to Madison next week and a shot at a state championship.

Wearing ski goggles and a crazy hat with strips of blue, red and white fleece around her face, Sowieja said, "If we go to state, it will be amazing."