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The  Flyers won their 19th playoff game in school history and improved to 17-0 in the postseason when leading their opponents at the end of the third quarter  in Friday's huge 29-28 win over H-L.

By Mark Hazelwood

FREMONT – It was something head coach John Livengood had been thinking about for a few minutes.

With St. Paul trailing 28-21 and just under two minutes remaining in the Region 22 championship game against Hopewell-Loudon, the veteran coach of 18 playoff wins knew if his team could score they had all the momentum in their favor.

"When it was clear we had a solid drive going I talked to a couple of the coaches and asked them their thoughts on going for two points if we were able to get a touchdown," Livengood said. "But at that point I wasn't sure which way we were going to go with it."

But with just 29 seconds remaining, senior quarterback Brad Frank rolled out and found Dominic Dellisanti in the end zone for a three-yard touchdown pass, and suddenly it was decision-time for Livengood, who had things complicated with junior Joe Graziani leaving the game with a re-aggravated ankle injury three players earlier. Graziani is the regular holder for kicker Wes Stein.

"I then called a timeout and decided to ask the seniors," Livengood said. "This is your season...your careers. Do you want to go for two points and win it or play for the tie and overtime? They quickly said yes, so then I had to think of a play to run," he quipped.

But with the Chieftains reeling, the call was a simple one. Do it again.

Frank rolled back out like on the similar pass play from the touchdown, except this time Dellisanti was all by himself sitting wide open in the right side of the end zone for the two points to give the Flyers a 29-28 lead and send the Flyer nation into a state of delirium.

The Chieftains passing game responded with three straight passing plays from their own 45 on the ensuing drive to put them at the St. Paul 31 with just five seconds remaining. In 1999, the Flyers won a regional championship on a game-winning 48-yard field goal; now they had to prevent the very same thing from happening. The Chieftains kick by Jay McAllister, however, didn't have the height or the distance to reach the crossbar, putting the Flyers back in the Division VI State Semifinals for the fifth time in school history.

In the second half of last season's regional championship with the Chieftains, the Flyers turnovers cost them 21 points in a 1:21-span in the third quarter, but Livengood said his team didn't focus on that...too much.

"That was something we talked about," he said. "It wasn't about revenge. It was about winning the region."

For the third straight week, the Flyers fell behind 7-0 early, and for the second straight week, it was due to a turnover. After driving to the H-L 29, senior Rob Whitehurst was unable to hold onto the ball, and the Chieftains recovered and drove 71 yards on eight plays capped off by a one-yard run by quarterback Andrew Brose with 6:37 left in the opening quarter for a 7-0 lead. The Flyers answered that score quickly, however, marching down the field behind the running game that resulted in a one-yard touchdown run by Joe Stoll to tie things up at the 11:57 mark of the second quarter..

Playing some receiver, it was McAllister catching a 48-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, but a key play happened when his extra point attempt was blocked by Alex Welfle, making it a 13-7 deficit with 5:26 left in the half. But that left St. Paul too much time, and they again answered after picking up a key fourth-down play, Frank found Joe Graziani for a nine-yard touchdown pass with just :07 seconds left in the half, and Wes Stein's extra point gave the Flyers a 14-13 lead at the break.

The theme stayed the same in the third quarter, with H-L taking a 20-14 lead off a seven-yard touchdown pass from Brose to Zach Yost with 7:58 left in the quarter. Stoll would respond with his second touchdown, a nine-yard run with 4:19 left to make it a 21-20 Flyer advantage. St. Paul then got an interception, but a Wes Stein 39-yard field goal attempt that had the distance was hooked wide left. That allowed the Chieftains to take over, and on a fourth-and-six from the St. Paul 39, Brose connected with Yost again for a touchdown pass that gave the Chieftains the 28-21 lead, setting up the Flyers game-winning theatrics..

Offensively, Frank was 9-of-11 passing for 106 yards while Dellisanti caught three of those passes for 28 yards. In dominating the time of possession, the Flyers running game produced 270 yards, with Stoll again continuing his post-season success with 30 attempts for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Graziani, who's injury is said not to be too serious, also picked up 93 yards rushing on 13 attempts.

For the Chieftains, Sean Brickner, one of the top backs in all of Division VI, was slowed to 117 yards on 21 attempts, as for the most part the Flyer defense kept the back bottled up. However, that opened it up for a H-L passing attack that saw quarterback Andrew Brose throw for 189 yards on 13-of-21 passing with two touchdowns. Receiver Zach Yost caught eight of those passes for 78 yards and both scores.

The Flyers improved to 9-4 overall in winning the regional as a #8 seed by knocking off the top two-seeded teams. They will take on another Flyers team in the form of Maria Stein Marion Local (11-2), who slipped into the postseason just like St. Paul after a slow start as the sixth seed in Region 24. Marion Local was 1-2 after three games before putting together a 10-game winning streak to win their respective regional trophy.

Despite both St. Paul and Marion Local being regular playoff contenders this millennium, the two have never matched up during their respective playoff-run seasons. That all changes Friday night at a site to be determined over the weekend, likely Tiffin or Lima, with an outside shot of a third trip back to Fremont.