FROSTBURG — When Keyser missed a point-after try with 6:03 to go, it felt like something that might come back to haunt the Golden Tornado.
Instead, the No. 4 Keyser (7-2) defense turned back the clock with 25 seconds left, gritting out the final six-plus minutes to stuff No. 5 Mountain Ridge (4-5) on fourth-and-1 and claim a 27-21 win over the Miners on Friday at Miner Stadium.
The win likely clinches a playoff spot for Keyser in Class AAA, where it hasn’t been since 2020 — COVID prevented the Golden Tornado from playing their playoff opener and ended their season.
“There’s so much emotion going through us right now,” said Keyser head coach Derek Stephen. “I just told the boys, we thought we were in the playoffs before, but I think we just clinched a spot in the playoffs. … So just to be back in there and have that feeling of the opportunity to get one more game, it’s great.”
With the game tied at 21 with 9:54 to go, Keyser forced a three-and-out to take over at the Mountain Ridge 43.
After quarterback Addison Brafford picked up a first down on third-and-13 with a 21-yard scamper, the junior play caller found Dominik Crawford behind the defense three plays later for a 21-yard strike. The PAT rocked the left upright to keep the Golden Tornado lead at six, 27-21.
The ensuing Mountain Ridge drive that nearly ran out the clock saw five first downs, including a pair on third down and an early fourth-down run for five yards by Levi Clise to move the sticks.
Down to the Keyser 18 with under a minute to go, the Miners lost two yards on first down before a pass to the end zone fell incomplete.
On third-and-12, Brayden Glass hit Clise for 11 yards to the Keyser 9 as Mountain Ridge burned its last timeout with 25 seconds left.
Up to the fourth-and-one play, Clise had 136 yards on 21 carries, seven catches for 73 yards and was 8 of 11 for 62 yards through the air.
“In end-of-game situations, I always think to myself and tell the coaches, ‘Think about players, not plays,’” said Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe. “On the last play of the game there when we needed a first down, the ball should have been in Levi Clise’s hands, and that’s whose hands the ball was in.”
The Keyser defense wasn’t caught by surprise, as it swarmed to Clise for a loss of two and Brafford then kneeled out the clock.
“It means so much just because this is where I went to school, this is where I played,” Stephen said. “Just being able to lead this team, it means so much to me. And to get these guys back to where Keyser football was, where it needs to be … I’m just so happy for them.”
The first half belonged to Keyser, namely Grayson Lambka.
The Golden Tornado escaped the first quarter with a 7-0 lead thanks to a 36-yard run by Lambka with 36 seconds left, as Tommy Nash booted the first of his three PATs.
After a Mountain Ridge score, a pair of runs by Owen Rotruck set up a third-and-1 at the Keyser 21. That’s where Lambka ran the remaining 79 yards all in one go for a 14-7 lead.
The Miners responded with a score, but missed the PAT, to trail 14-13, a scoreline that felt would stand at halftime with just 1:22 remaining.
Lambka, who had returned a kickoff for a touchdown in each of Keyser’s previous two games, hauled in the ensuing kickoff at the Keyser 17 and ran 83 yards for a touchdown, giving the Golden Tornado a 21-13 lead at the break.
Lambka finished with 162 yards on 14 carries, with 133 of those yards coming in the first half.
Clise hauled in Mountain Ridge’s first touchdown on an 18-yard dot from Glass on fourth-and-1. Glass threw a 19-yard TD to Nathan Miller before Lambka’s kickoff return score.
The Golden Tornado marched to the Mountain Ridge 26 on the opening drive of the second half, but Preston Raynor came up with a stop on third-and-eight to force a long fourth-down try. The Miners forced an incompletion on a throw to the end zone.
Mountain Ridge took the ensuing drive 74 yards, capped off by a stunning 45-yard run by Clise for a score.
Trailing by two, the Miners were backed up before their two-point try thanks to a delay of game penalty.
Mountain Ridge kept the offense out there, with Clise in the shotgun hitting Carter Clites on a shovel pass. Clites was about to be tackled just past the line of scrimmage before pitching to Jasper Crissman out right. Crissman bolted forward and dove for the goal line, getting the ball across before hitting the turf to tie it at 21-all 2:02 in the third.
“We kind of dug ourselves a hole a couple times,” Shipe said. “We got a stop late in our own territory in the second half and just couldn’t generate a first down. A couple of things here and there, you know, in tight ball games, it’s just one or two plays that can make a difference.”
Mountain Ridge will host a playoff game in the opening regional round with the opponent to be determined.
The win probably clinched a playoff spot for Keyser, but it also got a huge boost before a Mineral Bowl meeting next week at home against No. 1 Frankfort (9-0).
“It’s great because that’s just a confidence builder,” Stephen said. “We came out and we played a pretty good game tonight against a pretty good Mountain Ridge team. … We’ve been talking about stacking plays, stacking (wins) … and just being able to stack two wins in a row leading into the Mineral Bowl, it’s always a great feeling.”