This wasn’t the way Boulder boys soccer was hoping its second-round game of the 5A state playoffs would end. It didn’t end at all on a blustery Tuesday night.

The second-seeded Panthers and No. 18 Horizon re-took the field once halftime had ended, with snow dumping and accumulating faster than school officials could handle with their shovels. As the referees and team officials conversed on the sidelines, students and players handled the situation with the whimsy one would expect of the season’s first snow: with a snowball fight.

Senior forward Xander Sevian, the lone player to score during the 1-0 first half, took it all in stride. The Panthers and Hawks will now have to wait until Thursday to reach the conclusion of their game.

“After 10 minutes of standing on the field with a lot of snow, the game was called and students came out onto the field,” he said. “Everyone picked up the snow and started throwing it around. It was a great time. We love nights like this.”

Sevian netted one of his two penalty kick attempts through the first 40 minutes of play, after a blatant push from behind in the box. His score in the 28th minute was followed by a series of good looks from the Panthers, none of which managed to sneak past the goal line.

Sevian, who leads the team with 22 goals this season, said the Panthers were happy with their first-half performance. He believes that if they can hold up their defense like they did in the first half, they should be just 40 minutes away from Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Snow was the first real roadblock that Boulder has faced this season.

Coming into the contest, 5A’s second-seeded masters held a 15-0-1 record, with their lone draw coming against No. 3 Broomfield, which also saw play suspended against Valor Christian on Tuesday night.

Head coach Hardy Kalisher said that this band of boys has broken every school record in the book, including: most goals scored in a season, fewest goals against, the number of players with double-digit goals (four), and the single-season record for the goals and assists combo, which Sevian holds at 22 in each category.

Each pawssing game — no matter how many days it may take to complete — seems to be inching the Panthers closer and closer to a bid for the 5A state championship. Kalisher’s not looking that far ahead yet.

“With the team, the confidence is high,” Kalisher said. “We have a season of one game and we really just talk about that. We’ve put in months, if not years, into the preparation of the game ahead of us and that is all we talk about. There’s been zero talk about anything other than the game that’s in front of us. The only opponent is the man in the mirror. If you can believe in that guy, then he believes in you. That’s what the boys are working on.”