SHOVED AWAY — Catholic Central’s Jimmy Hernon pushes away River defender Beau Charlton to pick up some extra yards during Saturday’s Division VII, Region 27 playoff game at Harding Stadium. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — A roller coaster of emotions doesn’t begin to describe the ending of Saturday’s playoff showdown between River and Catholic Central.

In the final six minutes of the Division VII, Region 27 opening round clash, each team had the lead at one point and each had moments where it seemed victory was at hand. In fact, Catholic Central had multiple such moments.

However, both teams responded in a thrilling finish and needed overtime to determine a winner, and the Crusaders made the needed plays on both sides of the ball to escape with a 28-22 victory at Harding Stadium.

After Peyton Rauch recorded back-to-back of sacks on third and fourth down to end River’s turn with the ball in OT, Jimmy Hernon capped a five-play drive with his second TD of the night when Central (8-3) got the ball to lift the Crusaders to their first playoff victory since 2013.

“I’m so proud of these kids,” Central head coach Eric Meek said. “We were a little banged up and fought our tails off, and give River credit, they played hard. This is a great win and now we move on.

“These players showed resilience and belief in each other. They love each other and that showed.”

The dramatics started when Central, the No. 4 seed, took a 16-14 lead with 5:56 to go with an 82-yard Matthew Sprochi run and a fake kick run converted by Rauch for two points for its first lead of the game.

The defense, then, appeared to have came up with a game-clinching stop multiple times, only to see penalty flags give the No. 13 seed Pilots life.

On a fourth down play, a River (4-7) pass fell incomplete for what seemed to be a game-sealing turnover on downs, but a personal foul came in on Central safety Tommy Pergi for a hit on the receiver after the ball had hit the ground.

Another personal foul, this time for a late hit out of bounds, gave River another first down inside the 10, but again the Central defense held. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the Central 5 with under three minutes to go, River coach Mike Flannery used a timeout and opted to try a 21-yard field goal, which went wide to the left. However, the Central rush that forced the kick to be hurried made contact with Pilots kicker Wyatt Majors, drawing another flag and a fresh set of downs inside the 3.

River’s Lucas Dennis, who ran the ball 41 times for 178 yards in the game, scored on the next snap to put the Pilots back on top, 22-16.

Sprochi, though, gave Central life by returning the ensuing kickoff to the River 47, then Hernon broke free for a 21-yard run down to the 26, though he fumbled at the end of the play. A Crusader teammate, however, came up with the ball to keep Central alive, then three plays later Pergi raced around the end to score the game-tying touchdown with 24 seconds left.

Central, which had converted a pair of two-point plays earlier in the game, opted for a kick for the lead and it missed, leaving the score 22-22.

While neither team threw the ball all that effectively, River used a little bit of trickery in the pass game to nearly pull off a last-second win as Peyton Blue lobbed a deep ball down the sideline to Wyatt Stalder, who had walked over towards the sideline like he was leaving the field and went uncovered by the Crusader defense. He was tracked down by a defender at the Central 30 after picking up 45 yards and the Pilots spiked the ball with five seconds left, but a last-ditch pass to the end zone was broken up as the clock hit zeroes.

Rauch, who entered the game with 20 sacks in the regular season, made his two big plays and the Crusaders offense wouldn’t be denied.

“It was a great game, I have a lot of respect for coach Meek and his staff and they scored when they needed to,” Flannery, the veteran River coach, said. “They played themselves back into the game and they made the plays at the end.

“I wish them the best going forward.”

As back-and-forth as the ending was, the first two-plus quarters was all River.

The Pilots, who ran the ball 63 times in the game, controlled the ball nearly the entire first half, out-gaining Central 162-76 and running 41 plays to the Crusaders 12 in the first two quarters with a 12-4 advantage in first downs. And, those numbers were even more lopsided before Central picked up 36 yards on the last two plays of the half.

“That first half we barely had the ball,” Meek said. “River did what we like to do offensively, run the football and control the game, they had the ball for 18 of the 24 minutes it felt like. But our kids stuck with it.”

However, a pair of 15-play drives by the Pilots in the first half stalled and ended in turnovers on downs in the Central end, and despite the wide disparity in yards and plays ran, they only led 6-0 at halftime on a Stalder 13-yard run that came early in the second quarter.

“We had the ball most of the first half but we didn’t capitalize on it,” Flannery said. “Our game plan was to run the ball and throw it if we had to. We just couldn’t get it going in overtime.”

River did extend its lead to 14-0 when Dennis returned a punt to the Central 10 early in the third quarter, setting up a 1-yard Blue plunge on a third-and-goal.

The Crusaders finally got something going on the next drive, as Pergi returned the ensuing kick to the River side side of the field and Hernon capped an eight-play drive with a 1-yard plunge, a two-point run by Pergi making it 14-8 after three quarters.

The Crusader defense stopped River on a fourth down deep in the Central end early in the fourth and again stymied the Pilots to end a 13-play march short of the sticks on the next drive, which set up the explosive Sprochi run to start the wild finish.

“I’m not disappointed in our kids, they played their hearts out,” Flannery said. “I love our kids. They showed a lot of character. It’s the kind of game you hate that someone has to lose, but someone had to lose. It was a great football game.

“That was the first overtime game I’ve been a part of in probably 15 years.”

The Crusaders advance to host No. 5 seed Corning Miller next Saturday night back at Harding Stadium in the second round. The Falcons are 9-2 and defeated No. 12 Racine Southern 27-16 on Friday night.

“We get to spend at least one more week with these wonderful kids, that’s the thing I’m the happiest about,” Meek said. “We have 10 great, wonderful seniors and I didn’t want to say to goodbye to them tonight.

“I’m glad I get to go back to work tomorrow.”

OHSAA Division VII, Region 27 Playoffs

Opening round at Harding Stadium

No. 4 Catholic Central 28, No. 13 Hannibal River 22 (OT)

HR 0-6-8-8-0 – 22

CC 0-0-8-14-6 – 28

SCORING PLAYS

First Quarter

None

Second Quarter

HR: Stalder 13 run (pass failed) 10:49

Third Quarter

HR: Blue 1 run (Dennis pass from Blue) 8:53

CC: Hernon 1 run (Pergi run) 5:39

Fourth Quarter

CC: Sprochi 82 run (Rauch run) 5:56

HR: Dennis 2 run (Dennis pass from Blue) 2:36

CC: Pergi 3 run (kick failed) :24

Overtime

CC: Hernon 1 run (no try)

RUSHING: Hannibal River 63-238-3TD (Stalder 8-53-TD; Johnson 4-19; Bennett 3-3; Blue 7-(-15)-TD; Dennis 41-178-TD); Catholic Central 36-265-4TD (Pergi 14-60-TD; Sprochi 6-123-TD; Hernon 16-82-2TD)

PASSING: Hannibal River 3-11-50 (all by Blue); Catholic Central 1-4-6 (all by Sprochi)

RECEIVING: Hannibal River 3-50 (all by Stalder); Catholic Central 1-6 (all by Hough)

FIRST DOWNS: Hannibal River 18; Catholic Central 11

PENALTIES-YARDS: Hannibal River 8-45; Catholic Central 5-46

FUMBLES-LOST: Hannibal River 2-0; Catholic Central 3-0