HERSHEY - On one final push, P.J. Fulmore earned Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic a state championship.
And Old Forge, its exhausted players laying stunned at the goal line, had its dreams crushed by the slimmest of margins.
North Catholic defeated the Blue Devils 15-14 in overtime with Fulmore scoring the winning touchdown and two-point conversion, just barely getting the ball across to end overtime in Friday's PIAA Class A state championship game at Hersheypark Stadium.
"I was just thinking about all the hard work we had put in this season," Fulmore said. "I just knew that we had to get in there."
Both teams fought and scratched for each yard throughout 48 minutes of brutality, determined to claim their first football state crown.
In overtime, Old Forge (14-2) cashed in its possession from the 10-yard line. Brandon Yescavage found and hit the smallest of creases for two 5-yard carries and found the end zone with a stretch to the goal line. Shane Schuback's extra-point gave the Devils a short-lived lead.
"We knew that this was going to be our last high school football game, so we wanted to give 125 percent on every play," said Schuback, who ran for 63 yards on eight carries, caught seven passes for 63 yards, had nine solo tackles, blocked a punt and had a 48-yard punt himself.
"The all-out effort from everybody was unbelievable."
But Fulmore, who found some daylight in the second half against a tenacious and swarming Old Forge defense, hit an alley and bolted in for a touchdown on North Catholic's first play of overtime.
Without hesitation, North Catholic coach Bob Ravenstahl went for the win.
Following a pair of up backs, Fulmore just wedged his way for the deciding two-point conversion.
"We actually didn't change a thing," Fulmore said. "We just started to feel more comfortable and wore them down a little bit. Everybody was getting their blocks and I think that opened the holes up."
North Catholic's defense gave Old Forge its most fierce resistance of the season, limiting it to 219 total yards on 51 plays.
Still, the Blue Devils stayed true to what drove them to Hershey, and pounded the ball against an eight-man front until finally they found an opportunity to strike.
Late in the first half, Schuback lined up in the single-wing, handed the ball to Jake Manetti, who rolled to his right. Drawing the defense, he stopped, pivoted and threw back to his left to Schuback for the game's first touchdown with 28 seconds left in the first half.
Doing a little bit of everything, Schuback kicked the extra point and Old Forge had a 7-0 lead.
Old Forge's defense limited the explosive Fulmore to 30 yards on 17 carries in the first half, but that changed in the third quarter.
Sprinting, darting and spinning off tackles, the running back-turned-quarterback because of an injury to starter Adam Sharlow in October, had 79 yards on 16 carries.
His backward swing pass to Jerome Turner finished a gut-wrenching drive against the Blue Devils defense with the tying touchdown. Three times North Catholic converted fourth downs, including one on the score with 8:59 left in the game.
Old Forge had a late drive in the final 1:30 that gave it one shot to win in regulation. Yescavage, who finished with 69 yards on 22 carries, covered 20 yards on three carries, and Schuback hauled in an 18-yard pass to the North Catholic 16.
"I just did my route and Jake thew a nice pass, the only one who could have caught it was me," Schuback said. " I knew he wasn't going to get it from me."
With eight seconds left, though, Schuback's 29-yard field goal fell short, sending the game to overtime where North Catholic got just enough a push to win the gold.