FLINTON - Glendale had just made a big defensive stop of Williamsburg's Austin McMonagle on a fourth-and-2 quarterback sneak at the Vikings' 25-yard line.
With the score tied with 9:34 left in the game in a game being played in the rain Friday night at Dr. Roy F. Baker Field, the teams appeared headed toward overtime.
And then Glendale's 5-foot-9, 166-pound senior Doug Twigg made the play of the game.
Twigg appeared to be bottled up near the line of scrimmage on a handoff, but he broke through some tacklers, found open space on the sideline, avoided a desperation lunge by defensive back Josh Morrissey at the 30 and scampered into the end zone to complete a 75-yard touchdown run.
Glendale quarterback Gary Witherow added a 43-yard touchdown run later to clinch a 26-14 win over the Blue Pirates. Clearly, though, Twigg's run gave the Vikings (2-1) the boost they needed.
"That was huge," running back Damon Braniff said. "He stepped up big there, and no one is catching him when he gets in the open field. He's something else."
"Any time we get him the ball, I'm excited to watch," Glendale coach Matt Irvine said. "Arm tackles aren't going to cut it with him, so he's going to run through them like he did."
"There was hole and I cut back," said Twigg, who ran for 118 yards on 12 carries. "I was in the middle of a spin, and I just opened it up and took off."
On Glendale's next series, a Braniff tackle-breaking 5-yard run for a first down set up Witherow, who optioned left in a heavy rain and scored with 3:22 left.
"Any one of those three [including Twigg and Braniff] have the breakaway ability of taking the long one in," Irvine said, "and he did."
The Vikings got the ball back on that series thanks to Braniff recovering a fumble that Pirates QB Austin McMonagle couldn't handle. The Pirates coughed the ball up three times in the second half.
"The turnover battle is a big part of the game," said Irvine, whose defense kept the Pirates (1-2) scoreless in the second half. "Any time you can win that, you should win the game. So, I'm really with the kids tonight."
The Pirates scored on their first possession of the game, driving 59 yards on 13 plays - 11 of which were runs by Alan Shanholtz, who finished the game with 105 yards on 26 carries and completed the drive with a 1-yard TD run.
Glendale scored in the second on a Witherow 3-yard pass to Matt Bantly and 1-yard Braniff run. But the Pirates tied the score on a McMonagle 15-yard pass to Caleb Morrissey with 2:08 left in the half. That's about the time the rain began and continued throughout the second half.
"We just couldn't put it all together in the second half," Williamsburg coach Bob Hearn said. "Our kids played a good game against a really good football team."
Notes: The Pirates' senior captain and two-way lineman, Sean McCauley, suffered a knee injury in the second quarter. ... Jed Dishong picked off Witherow on the last play of the first half. ... Braniff (18 carries, 53 yards) was injured running for 14 yards and making a first down on a fake punt in the second quarter, but he returned to the game.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Williamsburg7 7 0 0 - 14
Glendale0 14 0 12 - 26
First quarter
W-Shanholtz 1 run (Snyder kick), 4:07.
Second quarter
G-Bantley 3 pass from Witherow (Matchock kick), 11:56.
G-Braniff 1 run (Matchock kick), 4:58.
W-C. Morrissey 15 pass from McMonagle (Snyder kick), 2:08.
Fourth quarter
G-Twigg 75 run (kick failed), 9:20.
G-Witherow 43 run (kick failed), 3:22.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Williamsburg-Shanholtz 26-105, Dishong 5-14, McMonagle 8-12, C. Morrissey 2-6. Glendale-Twigg 12-118, Witherow 9-70, Braniff 18-53, O'Donnell 1-4.
PASSING: Williamsburg-McMonagle 5-9-0-70. Glendale-Witherow 7-14-1-78.
RECEIVING: Williamsburg-C. Morrissey 3-30, Bookhammer 1-22, Snyder 1-18. Glendale-Braniff 2-40, Twigg 2-21, Bantley 3-17.
INTERCEPTIONS: Williamsburg-Dishong. Glendale-none.
TEAM STATISTICSWG
First downs1113
Rushes-yards41-13740-245
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)5-9-07-14-1
Yards passing7078
Total yards207323
Fumbles-lost5-30-0
Penalties-yards5-302-17
Punts-avg.4-32.55-29.8
