Cameron Cleeland's heart sank along with the rest of Seahawk Nation on Dec. 31, 1988, the day his beloved Seattle Seahawks dropped a playoff heartbreaker to Cincinnati.

That year was supposed to be the year the Seahawks won their first playoff game since 1984. And as Cleeland watched that game on television an hour or so north of Seattle in Sedro-Woolley, he could never have imagined what happened yesterday.

The Seahawks, seeking their first postseason victory since 1984, lost 27-20 yesterday to the St. Louis Rams in an NFC wild-card playoff game at Qwest Field. The Rams' win came in large part thanks to their tight end — Cameron Cleeland — a Seahawks-fan-turned-division-rival who provided the latest dagger in a history littered with moments much like this one.

A mostly anonymous cog in what once was the Greatest Show on Turf, Cleeland made one catch for 17 yards in his return home yesterday. That catch happened to be the winning touchdown that sent another Seahawks team home early, the touchdown that sank another bunch of hearts.

"I'm just trying to soak it up right now because it's going to go too fast," Cleeland said. "This is all pretty surreal."

There's a touch of irony to this story, one that Cleeland understands all too well. He's still an unabashed fan of the Seattle Seahawks — just not on the days they play their division nemesis.

That division nemesis signs his paychecks, and it doesn't particularly care for the Seattle Seahawks he still adores. So this win won't tug at his teammates' hearts the way it tugs at his.

"I can't imagine what he's feeling right now," said defensive end Bryce Fisher, himself a Seattle native but not necessarily a Seahawks fan. "Making a big catch. At home. Against the team he grew up rooting for. That's some kind of a justice. I just don't know what kind."

Poetic is the way that Cleeland described it. By his estimate, the Rams have run that same play 100,000 times this season. Cleeland even joked that he leads the NFL in "Friday practice touchdowns."

That dubious honor hasn't exactly translated to statistics on the field this season. Cleeland shares the ball with receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, with running backs Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson, with a host of other players casual fans haven't heard of.

He came into this game with seven catches for 57 yards on the season, and no touchdowns.

The Rams were in a rush, facing a third-and-three from the Seahawks 17-yard line with less than three minutes remaining. They wanted to run a play that would still leave them in position for a tying field goal. They wanted, more than anything, the element of surprise.

No choices were more surprising than the Sedro-Woolley native, and he found himself so alone in the end zone, he could have snuck back home for dinner without anyone noticing. Cleeland recalled seeing nothing except the ball spiraling toward him.

"You better hang on to this sucker, or you're going to get hit," he told himself.

Cleeland went up for the ball, cradled it and fell down to the turf. Teammates mobbed the unlikely hero while family members danced in delirium in the stands.

"Just look at the whole locker room right now," Cleeland said. "These are guys that have been through a lot of stuff, a lot of turmoil. This is the culmination of everything we've been through."

Reporters gathered two deep around his locker and teammates nearby just shook their heads. It all seemed so unlikely, their second-string tight end, a University of Washington graduate who still calls Mount Vernon home, sending his second-favorite team home early for another season.

This one hurt so many others like 1988 hurt him. But this time, Cleeland's heart just lifted, his smile beaming like the lights off his bald head.

"Cam makes plays like that all the time," receiver Shaun McDonald said. "He's a great tight end. We have two real good tight ends that can go up and get the ball. You just don't hear as much about them."

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or gbishop@seattletimes.com

Facing a third-and-three at the Seahawks 17-yard line, St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger (10) lofted a pass to a wide-open Cameron Cleeland in the end zone with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter. Cleeland (87) beat Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant (23) and safety Ken Hamlin (26) on the play. It was the Sedro-Woolley native's only catch of the game, and it kept the Seahawks' postseason drought alive.