The end is never fun, but Zach Murray can appreciate the run he’s had playing soccer for DeKalb.

The Barbs’ season ended on Wednesday after a 6-0 loss to South Elgin in a Class 3A Elgin regional semifinal.

“It’s just been a real wild, fun ride,” Murray said. “There is the good, there is the bad. I mean, you know, you build such a camaraderie with your teammates. It’s unlike anything else, and just messing with each other, and I feel like really the bonds you build with people, it’s just incredible when you play high school sports.”

South Elgin (19-3-1) entered on a hot streak, having won nine of 10 and continued to streak. The Storm jumped ahead four minutes into the action on a follow from Jacob Buthman.

Pelon Munoz’s goal from the center of the box found the back of the net six minutes later, and the Barbs quickly were looking up at 2-0.

“I think we got a little complacent after we got those first two, and it was a little frustrating for us,” Storm coach Jerzy Skowron said. “Probably a well-placed halftime chat [helped], and we kind of opened the game up a little bit, and we were able to play a bunch of different guys.”

DeKalb coach PJ Hamilton praised his team’s resiliency.

“We kind of talked about the importance after going down 2-0 in nine minutes,” he said. “What a credit to our boys to keep it 0-2 by the end of the first half. And we talked about how we’ve seen the progress with this group continually to get better and better and better. I don’t know how long they’ve been in this position, but with playoffs and a win-or-go-home mentality, if we could get one [goal], we would’ve been excited where it went. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way tonight, and we learn from our moments.”

Freshman Yair De La Cruz’s effort in net kept the game competitive into the second half.

De La Cruz punched, blocked and secured several dangerous shots to keep the Barbs (7-12) in the game.

The Storm wouldn’t sneak one past him again until Buthman’s free kick with 32:31 left to play, which made it 3-0.

“They crossed a lot,” De La Cruz explained. “It was difficult dealing with them a lot. I was nervous. During the first save I did, the nerves went away, so I felt more confident afterward.”

De La Cruz is a key cog for the future of the Barbs. He’s got three full seasons remaining and amazingly is in just his third year of playing the game.

“We were doing a community service [event], and I was talking to him and he said, ‘Do you realize I started playing two years ago?’ ” Hamilton said. “No, I didn’t realize that. A heck of a player.”

The Storm have a heck of a team, Hamilton said.

“It was another quality team that we’ve seen,” Hamilton said. “They play very well and were very dangerous up top. We were happy with the stretches that we had when we kept them off the scoresheet. It’s just keeping a team with that kind of firepower is a challenge in itself.”

Murray and Brandon Cervantes, Mauricio Jasso, Mohammed Alkarzon, Brandon Garcia, Jorge Correa, Julian Godinez, Cesar Lazaro, Martin Valenzuela, Musab Abdelaziz, Christian Gomez and Esteban Cardoso were among DeKalb’s 12 seniors this fall.