Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Penn Cambria’s Gavin Harrold (right) cuts back from the sideline as BG’s Hamilton Gates defends on Friday.

CRESSON — When Nick Felus was in sixth grade, he watched his brother Carmen lead Penn Cambria to 10-0 in the regular season and watched as Cresson and surrounding communities got behind the Panthers.

When he took over the school’s head coaching job six years ago, his vision was to bring back that 1989 feeling.

Mission accomplished.

The Panthers survived a wild finish to defeat Bishop Guilfoyle Academy, 28-27, in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game at Panther Stadium Friday night to end an undefeated regular season.

“The support that we’ve had over the last six years is amazing,” Felus said. “This is a tough place to play. Home sweet home. The environment we’ve created, our student body, the parents, the booster club, the administration — it’s amazing. When everyone’s pulling the same boat, special things can happen. You saw that tonight. “

The Marauders found out just how tough Friday, especially in the closing seconds.

Hamilton Gates got his feet down in the back of the end zone with a 9-yard touchdown catch with 33 seconds left that cut BG’s deficit to one. The Marauders decided to go for two points and win.

Out of the shotgun formation, quarterback Chase Kissell threw to his side and Taurean Consiglio, who ran into the end zone for what appeared to be the game-winning conversion — but it was called back on an offensive pass interference call.

“They thought we were down the field when we caught the pass,” BG coach Justin Wheeler said. “It’s supposed to be an option play. We’re going to catch it behind the line. We blocked the field like we were supposed to, and they said we caught it, within a half yard or so, too far down the field.”

The Marauders were forced to attempt a 35-yard extra point, which fell short. BG’s Michael Cacciotti kicked an onside kick that the Marauders recovered. Kissell completed two passes to Braden Reilly to bring up a first down at the Penn Cambria 24 with 15 seconds left.

Kissell then rolled out and hit Gates in the middle of the field for an 11-yard completion to the 13 and a first down. The down marker was moved to the 13 and listed as first down, but the chains never moved as the final five seconds ticked off the clock, which stops in high school football to move the chains on a first down.

“It was a first down. They said it was a first down,” Wheeler said. “The explanation I got was they were going after the game clock. It didn’t stop, so they weren’t going to stop it.”

Wheeler spent almost as much time on the field as the players, talking to officials between penalties on the two-point call and the clock not stopping after the final play.

“I told (the team) I’m proud of them,” Wheeler said. “I told them they did everything we wanted them to do tonight. They fought the whole game. Even with 33 seconds left after some things didn’t go their way, they didn’t quit on the onside kick. Michael hits a good onside kick. They fought for it and put us in a position to win it. We were going to nail it and kick a field goal to win it.”

Play of the game: There were so many, but perhaps the most incredible came late in the first half when Penn Cambria’s Brady Jones was about to be sacked to set up a third-and-long in a position where BG probably would have entered the half up 14-6, but he turned the ball back to Mason Mento, who ran it 23 yards to the 2-yard line. Gavin Harrold ran it in for a score on the next play, then ran in a two-point conversion to tie the game.

Player of the game: Harrold had three touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving, drove in a turnover and tackled on the final play of the game.

“It was definitely a big game, and it showed that we can play in big games,” Harrold said. “Like I said before, the job isn’t done. It’s a great win, but that’s until next week. We have to play our hearts out every week. We haven’t reached our goal yet.”

Unsung hero: The Penn Cambria crowd, who were loud all night and had blue glow sticks, which made it look good.

“I remember seeing what a football team can do to ignite a community (back in 1989),” Felus said. “It brought everybody together. It was a special time to have a chance to see my brother play on that team, and it’s like this now. This community loves the Panthers. They come out and support us every night. It’s a good time to be part of our program.”

Most important stat: The numbers on the scoreboard before BG could run one last play.

“We tackled them in bounds, and they had no timeouts,” Felus said. “At the end of the day it was 0:00. I’m a little disappointed we were in that situation. The onside kick they got a perfect bounce. But at the end of the day we were able to tackle and win.”

Wheeler: “We can never let it come down to somebody else’s decision. You have to win the game and make sure it’s decisive. We want to make sure we come out strong next week and have our best game ever. We want to get this to roll and run.

Gates: “We got the first down, and I was in the middle of the field. (Harrold) held me on the ground and didn’t move. We didn’t have enough time to spike the ball. I didn’t think that was how it worked , but it’s okay. I thought we won the game twice. But we had a bad call at the goal line. But we’ll move on to next week push ourselves to 100 percent. We’ll be a much better team after this.”

Penn Cambria’s Derek Hite: “We love to make it interesting — heck heck. We gave it our all. We put it all on the line. We stepped up and made a play that ended the game. It came down to that. There were a lot of ups and slumps. We were down, but we never gave up.”

Notable: Marcus Eckenrode had an interception and a key 32-yard catch that set up a Penn Cambria touchdown. … Both teams will be top seeds in their respective classifications in the District 6 playoffs. … Penn Cambria snapped a ball over Jones’ head while trying to punt that set up a 1-yard Consiglio touchdown, and the Panthers later returned the favor by blocking a BG punt. … Braden Reilly caught a halfback pass from Gates for a touchdown, and Jones ran in a touchdown for the Panthers. … Gates surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the season with nine catches for 97 yards.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (9-1); Penn Cambria (10-0).

Next week: Bishop Guilfoyle hosts Juniata Valley in the District 6 Class 1A quarterfinals, and Penn Cambria hosts Central in the District 6 Class 3A semifinals.

GRADE PER QUARTER

Bishop Guilfoyle 0 14 0 13 — 27

Pen Cambria 6 8 6 8 — 28

First quarter

PC–Harrold 19 pass from Jones (pass failed), 6:06.

Second quarter

BG–Consiglio 17 pass from C. Kissell (Bolands kick), 7:12.

BG–Consiglio 1 run (Bolands kick), 4:25.

PC–Harrold 2 drive (Harrold drive), :42.

Third quarter

PC–Harrold 19 run (run failed), 3:06.

Fourth quarter

PC–Jones 9 drive (Mento drive), 10:41.

BG–Reilly 17 pass from Gates (Bolands kick), 7:16.

BG–Gates 9 pass from C. Kissell (kick failed), :33.

TEAM STATISTICS BG PC

First declines 18 17

Total yards 327,342

Rushing yards 27-110 41-232

The farm passes 217,110

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 16-35-1 7-13-0

Punts average. 3-26 2-21.3

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-2

Penalty yards 8-70 7-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissell 9-51, Gates 8-42, Consiglio 9-18, TEAM 1-(-1). Penn Cambria, Harrold 10-82, Mento 9-80, Jones 12-57, Plunkett 9-39, TEAM 1-(-26).

PASSING–Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissell 15-34-1-200, Gates 1-1-0-17. Penn Cambria, Jones 7-12-0-110, Harrold 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 8-97, Reilly 6-58, Consiglio 2-62. Penn Cambria, Harrold 6-78, Eckenrode 1-32.