CUMBERLAND — When Allegany’s been close to a trademark win lately, it’s fallen short. The Campers got over that hurdle on Saturday.
Keyser forced a photo finish with a 14-yard passing touchdown from Addison Brafford to Grayson Lambka to pull within 26-21 with 2:11 to play.
That was the extent of the drama as Amanni Blowe recovered Keyser’s onside kick, Khiante Bible broke a tackle to convert a 3rd-and-4 and Allegany kneeled it out.
Allegany wasn’t perfect, but it made the plays when it needed to and kept Keyser off the field, fending off the third-ranked Golden Tornado, 26-21, on Saturday at Greenway Avenue Stadium behind 100-yard rushing performances from its Killer Bs, Bible and Blowe.
“It’s a big win for us,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “A good football team in Keyser coming in here, I don’t know why we like to make it so hard sometimes. Two-score lead and you’re driving the football, and we decide to fumble and make it more interesting.
“But I’m just happy for my kids again, they played nowhere near perfect and they held on to get a win. They deserve it.”
Allegany (3-4) moved to 75-33-2 all-time against Keyser with its fifth straight win in the series. The two-game streak is the Campers’ first of the season.
Keyser’s five-game win streak was snapped, falling to 5-2.
Allegany rushed for 305 yards on 52 carries. Bible led the effort with 144 yards on 17 runs, the longest a 61-yard burst that set up the Campers’ final scoring drive of the first half.
Blowe had 23 rushes for 115 yards and two scores, and Sebastian Stewart had three receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown from Dylan Blank.
“We didn’t tackle very well,” Keyser head coach Derek Stephen said.”We were tackling up top. We’ve been telling them all week that those guys run hard, and we’ve got to be able to wrap and run our feet. We were wrapping, but we weren’t running our feet, and they were getting those extra one, two, three yards. They moved the chains for them when they needed it.”
Keyser’s touchdown drive in the final minutes was its only of the second half after an electric 87-yard return by Grayson Lambka on the opening kickoff of the third quarter cut the Alco lead to 20-14.
Lambka rushed for 35 yards and caught two balls for 33 more.
Allegany’s defense responded to the special-teams score with three straight stops on just 11 plays, forcing a three-and-out, a turnover-on-downs on four plays and an interception (Stewart).
The Campers more than doubled up Keyser in time of possession, 32:01-15:59, and total offense, 373-181.
Keyser was 0 for 4 on third down in the second half, ended 2 for 9 on third down and 1 for 3 on fourth down, and was limited to 113 yards on the ground — 34 after halftime.
Allegany’s stout defense also recovered a fumble, forced by Rylen Ellsworth and recovered by Maddox Hensel.
The Campers thwarted a fake punt in the fourth quarter thanks to an open-space tackle by Sully Watkins.
“Schematically we leaned into tendencies hard,” Hansel said. “We trusted what we saw in film and really wanted our kids just to align and attack. That’s what they did last week (against) Southern. A couple broken coverages, the kick return, but overall defensively I thought they were great, and there are some more plays we could have made.”
After back-to-back Allegany punts to open the second half, the Campers drove 82 yards on 11 plays on a drive capped by a six-yard Blowe rush to go up 26-14 with 8:52 remaining.
Allegany converted a 4th-and-2 on the series and was 3 for 3 on fourth downs on the day.
The Campers still had moments of near disaster.
Forced to punt clinging to a 20-14 lead, Allegany snapped the ball over Stewart’s head, and he kept his cool, pooching the ball away.
Keyser went three-and-out, and Allegany followed with its lone second-half scoring drive.
“I think the quarterback position kind of overwhelmed him last year, and it kind of was in his mental,” Hansel said of Stewart, who also caught a conversion pass. “I think now that he’s at split and playing where he feels comfortable, he’s relaxed everywhere in the field.
“He’s kicking off, he’s punting now with Trevin (Cox) hurt, and he’s doing field goal, extra points. He is flourishing for us. He’s leading, he’s making big plays for us in almost every aspect of our game.”
Allegany scored touchdowns on two of its final three drives of the first half to take a 20-7 lead into intermission.
Keyser had momentum after a nine-yard Brafford quarterback keeper cut its deficit to 12-7 with 3:54 left in the half.
Allegany grabbed it back in a hurry, as Bible broke free down the left side for a 61-yard jaunt. Three plays later, Blank scored from three yards out on a waggle for a 13-point lead.
Keyser had an opportunity to get the ball back late in the half after punter Tommy Nash pinned the Campers on their own five-yard line with 1:30 on the clock.
The Golden Tornado had three timeouts but elected not to make the Campers punt the ball or get a first down. Allegany was missing its starting punter Cox to a knee injury, and it ran two plays to enter the half with a two-score lead.
The Golden Tornado didn’t use their timeouts because they didn’t want to aid a late Allegany drive, Stephen said.
Allegany scored on its first drive of the game, which spanned 74 yards on three plays. A 40-yard connection from Blank to Stewart made it 6-0 Campers with 9:42 left in the first quarter after a missed PAT.
Alco converted two fourth downs on their next scoring drive. Blowe carried a host of Golden Tornado defenders into the end zone from 16 yards out to cap the 12-play, 72-yard series for a 12-0 edge with 8:25 on the second-period clock.
Allegany maintained that lead throughout, absorbing a late fumble, recovered by Owen Rotruck, and a valiant Keyser effort to hang on.
Allegany is back in action at Northern (3-4) in another contest with Class 1A West Region seeding implications.
Keyser has a quick turnaround at home against Moorefield (1-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“That’s kind of a blessing in disguise,” Stephen said, “having a short week. We don’t have a lot of time to dwell on it. … We’re right back on it on Monday.”