How quickly things change.

First came the loss to San Mateo in the Little Big Game, and then the Panthers saw their season come to an end on Friday night in a 30-20 loss to visiting Saratoga in a Central Coast Section Division III playoff opener. No. 3 seed Burlingame finished the season 7-4 after starting out 6-1.

“I didn’t fathom this idea,” Panthers coach John Philipopoulos said. “We really believed we were going to win this game (and have a good shot at competing for the championship). It’s pretty painful to see it end like this.”

None of the Panthers saw it coming, that’s for sure. Not after they took a 6-0 lead on their second possession of the game, a 4-yard touchdown run from Ilan Lesov around the left side with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first quarter. However, Burlingame didn’t score again until late in the third, during which time the No. 6 Falcons (6-5) put up 20 unanswered points.

The Panthers finally found their rhythm again, scoring touchdowns on back-to-back possessions — the first on a 5-yard run from Jordan Pessah and the second a 27-yard run from Lesov — to make it 20-20 with 10:17 remaining.

Just when it looked like Burlingame had regained its mojo, things fell apart. It was all Saratoga after that, as it answered the Panthers’ final score with a field goal before forcing a Burlingame three-and-out and then putting things away when Grant Thomas (11 carries, 140 yards) found a huge hole up the middle en route to a 68-yard TD run with 5:36 to go.

Burlingame crossed midfield on its ensuing drive but turned the ball over on downs. The Falcons then picked up two first downs to ice the outcome. Saratoga gutted Burlingame’s defense with 304 yards rushing on 44 carries, averaging 7 yards per carry.

The Panthers, meanwhile, could only get their ground game going in spurts, never a good sign for a run-dominated team. Lesov had 107 yards on 21 carries and Pessah 93 on 13, well below their averages. Burlingame’s inability to consistently move the chains forced it to go to the air more often, and even though quarterback Nik Gutierrez (12 of 19, 136 yards) played well, the Panthers didn’t win seven games this season with their passing game.

“We’d prefer to do our damage with the run,” Philipopoulos said. “I don’t know (what happened the last two games). It was missed opportunities in close games, and you have to give the teams we played credit. They capitalized when they had to and we didn’t. I feel really disappointed, I feel hurt, and you wish there’s something else you could’ve done. I feel bad for the seniors and the coaching staff because we all worked hard to get to this point, and we didn’t get it done when we had to.”

The game figured to be a close one, as both teams had similar results with two common opponents. Burlingame beat Homestead 13-12 and got blasted by Palo Alto, 48-21. Saratoga edged Homestead 10-7 and was hammered by Palo Alto, 41-17.

The Falcons simply made more big plays than the Panthers at critical moments. While thoroughly disappointed with the loss, Philipopoulos felt his team performed admirably throughout the season. But in the last two weeks, the Panthers ran into a couple of teams that simply played better than they did — not that it’s going to take the pain away.

“We had it all within our grasp,” Philipopoulos said. “We felt things were set up right for us to make a strong run. We had the CCS world right in our hands and fingertips and let it slip away. And that’s tough to swallow.”