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Parshall-White Shield 14,

Wells County 13

Key play: P-WS stopped WC from converting on a potential go-ahead two-point conversion in the final minute.

Key player: P-WS quarterback Jaren Enockson, who scored for the Braves late in the fourth quarter.

Key stat: P-WS scored on its first possession of the second half to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

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Going into the 2009 season, Parshall-White Shield head coach Mark Grueneich knew his team had some ability.

Little did Grueneich know that his Braves would be able to show off that talent by hosting a state semifinal game.

P-WS got a late touchdown from Jaren Enockson and held on in the final seconds to top Wells County 14-13. Next weekend, the Braves will play host to TGU, which topped Central McLean to move into the semifinals.

"Even at the start of the year, we ourselves weren't sure just how good of a team we'd have, but it's been just a remarkable ride," Grueneich said. "When they needed to, they've stepped up. They've played hard. At the start of the year, I have to admit, not even we thought we could get that far, but the fact that we're here is absolutely sweet."

The Braves dug out of a 7-0 halftime hole with the help of a scoring drive on their initial possession in the third quarter. P-WS got a 3-yard touchdown run from Cole Hendrickson with 9:51 to play in the third quarter. Hendrickson added the 2-point conversion on a run for an 8-0 P-WS lead.

WC had a chance to re-take the lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Bears drove within the Braves' 5 yard line, but a penalty and a sack pushed WC out of scoring position.

"That was a huge play," Bertsch said. "That makes a huge difference. With the penalty and the sack you can relax on defense and you don't have to worry so much about (WC running back Kelby Houchin) busting it up the middle."

The Braves appeared to have the game sewed up late in the fourth quarter. With 1:32 remaining, Jaren Enockson ran it in on a fourth-and-three play for a 14-7 P-WS lead. But the Bears snuffed out the conversion chance and went to work on offense.

Sophomore signal caller Riley Hovland engineered an 80-yard drive in less than a minute. He capped it off with a 15-yard TD pass to Kolten Knodel on a great hook up with 46 seconds remaining to pull WC to within 14-13.

The Bears chose to attempt the 2-point conversion, but a penalty moved them back five yards. Hovland once again tried to hit Knodel for the two-point conversion, but the pair couldn't connect.

"We did it with our second-string quarterback too," Bears head coach Jon Bertsch said. "Our quarterback went out with a wrist injury and our second-string quarterback took us down the field. We did a nice job, we had the opportunity right there to win it. A procedure penalty - and that happens when you've got a new quarterback, not sure on the line of scrimmage what to run. Part of that's my fault, you learn a lesson all the time."

Bertsch said the Bears wanted to go for the conversion and, potentially, the win.

"We were (going for the win)," he said. "That's what we wanted to do. Our long snapper is the quarterback that got hurt so we were not confident in kicking the ball. We could have played for OT, but we decided to go for the win on the road and that's what we did."

Wells County had won the earlier meeting between the two teams by a 33-24 count.

"We knew that if we were going to have a chance to win this game our defense was not going to be able to stop them, but at least contain them," Grueneich said. "We knew on defense we had to step it up and on offense we had to do a better job of blocking than we did the first time."

Bertsch said the Braves' defense was much improved from the first meeting.

"They played hard and they took some things away from us," he said. "My hats off to them. Good luck to them. We'll go home and regroup and see what happens."

The Bears finished their season at 8-2, while P-WS improved to 8-2.

WC 7 0 0 6 - 13

P-WS 0 0 8 6 - 14

First quarter

WC - Kelby Houchin 1 run, 1:10.

Second quarter

No scoring.

Third quarter

P-WS - Cole Hendrickson 3 run (Hendrickson run), 9:51.

Fourth quarter

P-WS - Jaren Enockson 3 run (run failed), 1:32.

WC - Kolten Knodel 15 pass from Riley Hovland, :46.