North Schuylkill's Luke Miller runs for yardage during Friday's win over Notre Dame-Green Pond (Photo by Skook News).

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — North Schuylkill was 1 yard away from losing to Notre Dame-Green Pond on Friday night.

What happened over the next 1 minute, 42 seconds will long be remembered by the Spartans’ players, coaches and fans.

In dramatic fashion, North Schuylkill made a goal-line stand and drove 96 yards in 12 plays over 1:38 to send the faithful home happy on Hall of Fame Night at Ghosh Orthodontics Field at Spartan Stadium.

In walk-off style, Luke Miller’s 9-yard touchdown reception from Caden Mengel on the game’s final play gave the Spartans a 31-29 victory over the Crusaders in a Schuylkill/Colonial crossover game.

“Our kids persevered,” said North Schuylkill coach Wally Hall, who became the winningest coach in program history with the victory. “Great win, great effort by our guys.”

The Spartans and Crusaders battled to a 22-22 tie through three quarters as each team followed its game plan offensively.

North Schuylkill grinded it out on the ground behind its big offensive line as Miller, Kolton Joyce and Mengel paced a rushing attack that gained 355 yards on 60 carries.

Miller rushed 31 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns, scoring on runs of 2 and 26 yards. Joyce added 73 yards on 17 carries, while Mengel ran it 11 times for 57 yards that included a 23-yard TD run in the first quarter.

North Schuylkill added a new wrinkle to its running game, flexing 6-foot-5, 300-pound junior tackle Aidan Zilker to a wingback-like position and having him come across the formation and lead the way for the Spartans’ running backs.

North Schuylkill finished with 468 yards of total offense and 25 first downs.

“That what we wanted to do,” Hall said. “When you have an offensive line the size of ours and be able to put some other guys in there up front and do a lot of different things, it keeps it fun for them. We were able to do a lot in our run game tonight.”

Added Miller: “The offensive line did a great job. They worked their butts off at practice. Coach Hall worked so hard with them this week.”

Notre Dame, meanwhile, answered every one of North Schuylkill’s scores with a big strike of its own.

Quarterback Matt Bodnar, who entered Friday’s game with 917 yards passing and 11 touchdowns in two games, completed 16-of-24 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns. Five of those pass completions went to Alex Clark, who scored on pass plays of 49, 59 and 61 yards and finished with 224 yards receiving.

After Gavin Mentzer’s 26-yard field goal gave North Schuylkill a 25-22 lead with 4:47 remaining, Clark’s third touchdown 52 seconds later put Notre Dame back out in front 29-25.

The Spartans looked done when Joyce fumbled the ball on North Schuylkill’s next play and the Crusaders recovered at the North Schuylkill 23. A 10-yard pass from Bodnar to Drew Boyd put the ball at the 10 and Boyd appeared to score two plays later on a 7-yard run around the right side.

Boyd was marked down at the 1-yard line with 2:01 left. North Schuylkill threw Christian Rivituso for a 1-yard loss on the next play, then called timeout with 1:42 left.

On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Joyce stuffed Jonathan Striba for a 2-yard loss, keeping North Schuylkill’s hopes alive.

“We knew once they got to the 1-yard line … we thought it was a touchdown,” Joyce said. “We knew we had to put pressure on them. When we got the first tackle for loss, we knew we had to get another tackle for loss.

“On fourth down we called a timeout to make sure we were ready. We ran full blitz and I came in and got the tackle for loss. That set up the touchdown.”

North Schuylkill took over at its 4-yard line with 1:38 remaining. Three short passes from Mengel to Miller put the ball at the 16. After two incompletions, a 10-yard run by Mengel moved it to the 26.

After two more incompletions, on third-and-10, Mengel found Miller down the seam for a monster 65-yard pass completion to the Notre Dame 9-yard line. The Spartans quickly hustled down the field and spiked the ball with 7.8 seconds left.

“It was huge,” Miller said of the long pass completion. “We run the post a lot. We ran it all summer in 7-on-7s. Mengel and I hadn’t connected on a long one this year, but we did it when it mattered. We got it done tonight.”

On first-and-goal, a Mengel pass was incomplete … 3.4 seconds remained.

With the crowd at Spartan Stadium on its feet, Mengel rolled right, stopped and threw back toward the left corner. Miller grabbed the ball away from the Notre Dame defender at the 1-yard line and sidestepped into the end zone for the touchdown.

The clock read all zeroes.

“We worked that play in 7-on-7s all summer,” Miller said. “We haven’t really pulled it out this year yet. The goal of the play is everyone shifts to the right, when the linebackers and the corners move, I shift over to the left.

“The (defensive back) made a good play on it, but I took it from him.”

The entire North Schuylkill sideline streamed across the field in a scene resembling a walk-off double in a baseball game where the hitter is mobbed behind second base.

It was as dramatic a finish as you’ll ever see in a high school football game.

“I was so tired. All the offensive line guys were hitting me,” Miller said. “But I’ll never forget that moment.”

Game Summary

North Schuylkill 31, Notre Dame-Green Pond 29 

NDGP (2-1, 1-1 White)         7          7          8          7  —    29

NS (2-1, 1-1 Red)                   7          7          8          9  —    31 

NS — Mengel 23 run (Mentzer kick)

ND — Clark 49 pass from Bodnar (Talpas kick)

NS — Miller 2 run (Mentzer kick)

ND — Rivituso 2 run (Talpas kick)

NS — Miller 26 run (Mogish run)

ND — Clark 59 pass from Bodnar (Clark pass from Bodnar)

NS — FG Mentzer 26

ND — Clark 61 pass from Bodnar (Talpas kick)

NS — Miller 9 pass from Mengel (no attempt)

Team Statistics

                                          NDG           NS

First Downs                      15                25

Rushes-Yards                    15-32          60-355

Passes                                16-24-0       9-16-0

Passing Yards                   362              113

Total Yards                       394              468

Fumbles/Lost                    0-0              2-2

Penalties                            6-45            8-75

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Notre Dame-Green Pond — Striba 6-17, Gordon 4-9, Boyd 1-7, Rivituso 3-6, Bodnar 1-(-7). North Schuylkill — Miller 31-212, Joyce 17-73, Mengel 11-57, Smith 1-13

PASSING: Notre Dame-Green Pond —- Bodnar 16-24-0, 362. North Schuylkill —- Mengel 9-15-0, 113; Team 0-1-0, 0.

RECEIVING: Notre Dame-Green Pond — Clark 5-224, Diaz 6-81, Gordon 1-21, Striba 2-18, Boyd 1-10, Lawless 1-8. North Schuylkill — Miller 8-113, Jones 1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: None