Haskell’s Victor DeMarco pulls down a reception as Kansas Wesleyan’s Ken Mitchell (18) delivers a hit on Saturday at Haskell Stadium.

As difficult as it is for a football coach to smile after a defeat, Eric Brock had no reason to frown Saturday afternoon.

Brock’s Haskell Indian Nations University football team had just dropped a 14-12 squeaker to Kansas Wesleyan at Haskell Stadium, yet the coach was upbeat.

“I think we’re getting to where we’re not giving away games,” Brock said.

HINU didn’t lose a fumble, didn’t throw an interception and was penalized just twice for 10 yards.

In other words, the injury- and attrition-riddled Fightin’ Indians played about just as well as they can play. It just wasn’t good enough to knock off a KCAC team.

Nevertheless, Haskell came very close to sending this one into overtime.

With only 1:39 remaining, quarterback Victor Ramos tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Victor DeMarco to bring the Indians within two points, and naturally they lined up for a two-point conversion attempt.

Instead of throwing again, Ramos handed the ball off up the middle to tailback Malcolm Coleman who rumbled and churned and finally toppled in a scrum.

Had he crossed the plane?

“I got in there, I know I did,” Coleman said.

But the side official rushed in and ruled Coleman had fallen inches short of forging a 14-14 tie. KWU took over and, since Haskell was out of timeouts, ran out the clock.

Haskell wouldn’t have been in that situation if Caleb Chaffin, making his varsity kicking debut, had been successful after the Indians’ first score, but his anachronistic straight-ahead boot was wide right.

Chaffin is the latest to audition for Haskell’s place-kicking job since Louis Dailey, HINU’s only proven kicker, had to drop out of school about a month ago.

“He had been in the Air Force and didn’t get his GI Bill money,” Brock said. “It never came through and he couldn’t pay his bills, so he had to go to work.”

Thus the search for a kicker goes on.

Meanwhile, Brock has been able to plug the hole at quarterback caused by injuries to Ryan Alden and Dwayne Butler with Ramos, a junior who handled all the snaps Saturday with nary a miscue.

At the same time, Ramos is no threat to run — he carried three times for one yard — and completed only 10 of 30 passes. Two were for touchdowns, however, and he wasn’t intercepted.

Ramos’ first TD pass came just before halftime when he hit Tarell Ramsey on a two-yard fade route that gave the Indians a 6-0 lead.

Haskell had benefited from five lost fumbles by the Coyotes in the first half. After intermission, however, KWU played mistake-free and punched across a couple of scores.

“Our defense played well,” Brock said. “That’s what kept us in the game. They have a good defense, too, yet we were one play away from overtime.”

Haskell (3-4) will play host to Friends, another KCAC school, at 2 p.m. next Saturday.