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CLAYSBURG -- Down by eight with just more than three minutes to play, Claysburg-Kimmel faced a fourth-and-4 from the Mount Union 23 at Bulldog Stadium on Friday.
The way things have been going for C-K over the past six weeks, almost everyone expected the Bulldogs to convert a first down, score and tie the game on a two-point conversion.
But this time, a scrambling Mason Campagna had his pass tipped away. It hit the turf, turning the ball over to the Trojans, who ran out the clock on a 21-13 victory.
"We thought a moving pocket would be a little better than a drop back," Claysburg-Kimmel coach Chuck Kassick said. "We thought we had a little space there. I think we had it open, but the pass hit off a helmet."
Mount Union took over with 3:35 to play, drove to the Claysburg 26 but opted to take a knee and run the clock out. As a result of only losing by eight points, the Bulldogs still won the Inter-County Conference's North Division after a three-way point tiebreaker between the Trojans, Bulldogs and Moshannon Valley.
In the games played between Claysburg, Moshannon Valley and Mount Union, the Bulldogs were plus-three points, Moshannon Valley was plus-one point and Mount Union was negative-four points. If the Trojans would have scored a final touchdown, they could have won the ICC North.
"When it all comes down to it, getting the win here was more important," Mount Union coach Jamie Brumbaugh said. "We have taken it one game at a time all year long. The ICC championship is important, but we're looking to win a football game. That's what we did tonight."
Play of the game: Mount Union's Levi Hunsinger tipped Campagna's pass on fourth down, and the Trojans converted a fourth-and-1 at the Claysburg 45 to put themselves in a position to run out the clock. Kassick did not use either of Claysburg-Kimmel's final two timeouts on Mount Union's last drive, but he said he was unaware of the tiebreaker scenario.
"I actually had no idea," Kassick said. "I didn't do any of the math. All I was worried about was trying to get our kids a win as a coach tonight, and I failed them as a coach. We were waiting to see if we could get a stop on fourth down. We only had two left anyway, and I knew we were going to need them. I knew if we got a stop, we were going to need the two timeouts to get down the field."
Player of the game: Mount Union's Nasir Collins had 311 yards on 23 carries. He also had an 80-yard touchdown run get called back due to one of Mount Union's 13 penalties for 100 yards.
Unsung hero: Claysburg-Kimmel's Mark Lattieri, who was honored on C-K's senior night, had a 50-yard run on the first Claysburg offensive play to go over 1,000 yards for the season. He finished with 22 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown.
Most vital statistic: Collins had just 15 yards on his first five carries and 296 yards on his final 18 carries.
"We made some adjustments," Brumbaugh said. "Our blocking was off. They played defense differently than we expected. We made some changes with our blocking, found some plays that worked and kept going to the well."
Kassick on winning the ICC North: "I love it. I'm happy for our kids. These kids have earned it. They played their tails off all year long. They work hard. It's going to be great to hang a banner. I'm just disappointed in myself tonight."
Lattieri, after being informed C-K won the tiebreaker: "That is really exciting. After this game, we knew we had to stop them and really couldn't stop their run game, knowing now that we still won the ICC North, that brings my spirits up a bunch."
Notable: Julian Weirich and John Welsh had interceptions for Mount Union. ... Campagna had 14 carries for 118 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown run. ... The Bulldogs didn't have a penalty enforced against them until a personal foul with 36 seconds left in the game.
Records: Mount Union (8-1); Claysburg-Kimmel (6-3).
Next week: Claysburg-Kimmel is at Everett to close the regular season next Friday, and Mount Union travels to Meyersdale the same night.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Mount Union 0 14 7 0 -- 21
Claysburg-Kimmel 6 7 0 0 -- 13
First Quarter
CK--Lattieri 24 run (run failed), 1:37.
Second Quarter
MU--Collins 31 run (kick failed), 10:07.
CK--Campagna 60 run (Fee kick), 9:22.
MU--Ryan 1 run (Collins run), 4:56.
Third Quarter
MU--Collins 49 run (Swanger kick), 3:37.
TEAM STATISTICS MU CK
First downs 18 14
Total yards 418 295
Rushes-yards 42-386 39-271
Yards passing 32 24
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 2-9-0 3-15-2
Punts-avg. 5-33.4 1-43
Fumbles-lost 4-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 13-100 1-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Mount Union, Collins 23-311, Ryan 15-73, Hobbs 2-5, TEAM 2-(-3). Claysburg-Kimmel, Lattieri 22-140, Campagna 14-118, Mowry 2-12, Brown 1-1.
PASSING--Mount Union, Hobbs 2-9-0-32. Claysburg-Kimmel, Campagna 2-15-2-24.
RECEIVING--Mount Union, Ryan 1-21, Bilger 1-11. Claysburg-Kimmel, Diehl 1-23, Herline 1-3, Mowry 1-(-2).