By Jonathan Bryant

As all eyes watched the seconds tick off the game clock, time proved the bigger enemy for the McKenzie Tigers as the Goshen Eagles held on to a 20-14 win to break even on the 2013 season.

The final four minutes and 55 seconds of play were dominated by a deliberate and methodical Eagles ground attack, punctuated by several hard runs from Goshen quarterback Deangelo Orum.

For Goshen head coach Bart Snyder, the non-region win meant as much, if not more, than any other win this season.

“We have been on the verge every ball game—we’ve just made some little bitty mistakes,” Snyder said.

“We knew coming in here that McKenzie was—and is—a very good ball team, and it was going to take our best effort, and that’s what our kids came out and did. They played four great quarters of football.

“They all did an outstanding job, and I’m very proud of what this coaching staff has done and, most importantly, what these guys and the community of Goshen have done.”

A quarterback keeper up the middle from Orum would set up Terriano Griffin for an easy six-yard scamper for the Eagles’ first score on a clock-crunching drive that left the opening quarter more than half spent.

But the Tigers would only need a few minutes to respond as freshman quarterback William Brown found Nicarious Peterson in stride for a 40-yard touchdown strike, but a missed point-after attempt would leave the Tigers trailing 7-6.

Orum would punch in the second Goshen score of the night after dragging several McKenzie jerseys with him for a six-yard score, giving the Eagles a 14-6 lead.

On the following drive, however, Peterson would come down with the second of two momentum-changing catches of the night for McKenzie—this time one-handed—for a 50-yard touchdown reception, and a successful two-point conversion evened the match at 14 points apiece.

The stalemate continued for the duration of a scoreless third quarter, and it wasn’t until nearly halfway through the fourth that Orum found a chink in an otherwise impressive McKenzie defense to set up Griffin for a two-yard nail in the coffin.

The Tigers were plagued by a dominating Eagles defensive line that walked away with half a dozen sacks before all was said and done.

McKenzie hosts the Wadley Bulldogs (4-5) as their first postseason opponent next Friday, while the Eagles will travel to see the Sweet Water Bulldogs (7-2).

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Sweet Water.