And in the end, it was the Old Forge defense that kept its season alive.

Playing with tenacity and a strong will to survive, Old Forge rallied for a 19 14 win over Southern Columbia in the PIAA Class A first round Friday at Kemp Memorial Stadium.

Old Forge (12 1) won its first state playoff game, set a school record for wins in a season and will play District 11 champion Schuylkill Haven, which defeated Bristol, 56 27, next week at a District 11 site to be determined.

"This win means the world to us," Yescavage said after a wild celebration with Old Forge fans after the game. "Southern Columbia is a great team and a great program, so it means everything to us."

Breaking tackles and displaying his speed, Yescavage ran for 208 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns. His final one came on a 50 yard dash with some tip toeing along the sideline that brought the Blue Devils all the way back from an early two touchdown deficit and gave them their first lead, 19 14, with 6:01 to play in the game.

Yescavage, who also scored the Devils' first points on an 80 yard run, pushed his season rushing total to 2,258 yards with 41 total touchdowns, which ties the Lackawanna Football Conference record set in 1999 by Dunmore's Brett Trichilo.

"After that first touchdown, we started moving them off the ball and started scoring," Yescavage said. Danny Trevathan Jersey "That was so important."

Schuback finished with 13 tackles, including http://www.broncosnflofficialproshop.com/Nike-Duke-Ihenacho-Jersey.html a vicious open field collision that helped the Blue Devils halt a Southern Columbia drive early in the fourth quarter. He also had four carries for 37 yards and three catches for 46 more, including a 35 yard catch and run to spark Old Forge's second scoring drive that ended with a Yescavage 3 yard run.

However, the extra point failed and the Blue Devils still trailed, 14 13, at the half.

"We had to comeback because we knew that we were in a dogfight," Schuback said. "I kept Andre Johnson Authentic Jersey telling the guys, I was not going home. I was not going out like this, no way, no how. We did everything we had to do. We had to make stops.

"I would have done anything I could to keep my senior year going."

After the Blue Devils defense stopped Southern Columbia at the Old Forge 22 on fourth down

with 8:44 left in the game, Yescavage rewarded his teammates on his 50 yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive that made it 19 14.

"Once you see that end zone, you just have to go," Yescavage said. "I wasn't stopping.

Now, with its season on the line, Southern Columbia, a six time PIAA Class A champion and 13 time Andre Johnson Womens Jersey finalist, methodically marched down the field. The Tigers converted a pair of fourth downs and reached the Old Forge 15, before Ryan Paulish, Paul Papi and Matt Trotta anchored in stuffing two straight running plays that gained only 2 yards.

Southern Columbia quarterback Nick Becker threw an incompletion on third down out of the back of the end zone. And on fourth, Becker shook off a rush from Corey Souryavong, but his pass got knocked away by Bobby Rinaldi, who returned to the game despite suffering a back injury in Danny Trevathan Youth Jersey the first quarter.

"I knew I had to do as much as I could to get back in there," Rinaldi said. "I ran on the sidelines and did whatever I could to make it feel better. I got back in there, I played my zone and saw the ball coming and I knocked it away.

Southern Columbia (12 1) came at the Blue Devils through the air in the first quarter, converting six third downs three aided by penalties on their first two scoring drives, while running 23 plays to Old Forge's three.

After Yescavage's 80 yard scoring run infused life into the offense and the excitable Old Forge fans, frustrated by the officiating, Southern Columbia threatened again, reaching the Old Forge 2.

However, a chop block penalty pushed the ball back to the 17 on broncosnflofficialproshop.com/Nike-Malik-Jackson-Jersey.html third down, and after an incompletion, a Luke Rarig 33 yard field goal attempt caromed off the right upright.

And Old Forge closed the gap to 14 13 by responding for its second scoring drive.

"We had some first quarter jitters," said Paulish, who had a bruising open field block that sprung Schuback on his 35 yard reception. "We made some adjustments and those really helped us."

Old Forge's defense tightened from there, keeping Southern Columbia, which averaged 50 points per game, out of the end zone. The Blue Devils, who avenged a 44 35 loss to Southern Columbia in 2011, also limited the Tigers to 188 yards rushing 146.3 yards less than their season average.

"We just wanted this game so bad because of that loss my sophomore year," Papi said. "We came out and played as hard as we could for 48 minutes. It was the most physical game that we played and we have so much respect for them.