BERLIN — In the moments after Scott Thomas missed an extra point on Conemaugh Township’s first touchdown in Friday’s District 5 Class A championship game, Indians coach Sam Zambanini approached the senior placekicker.

“I told him to keep his head up because we might need him,” Zambanini said after Thomas squeezed a 19-yard field goal just inside the far upright with 5 seconds left in the Indians’ 21-20 comeback win over defending champion Windber.

“I never envisioned at that point we would need him in that way,” Zambanini said. “He sure came through in a big way.”

Thomas’ boot from the right hash mark on the Snyder Sports Complex field might not have been a work of art, but it capped a showcase of two of the area’s top teams, a pair of big-play running backs and defensive units that allowed chunks of yardage but still made key plays.

“Sam (Zambanini) said (before the game) that it might be a low-scoring affair and it was,” Windber coach Phil DeMarco said. “It was an outstanding football game. Both teams played to the end. We just came up on the short end of the score.

“I’m very proud of the guys,” DeMarco said. “We played well on both sides of the ball. This may have been our best defensive game of the year. It was the right time for it. We just came up a little short.”

Township’s Seth Zaman had 171 rushing yards on 32 carries, with 102 of those in the second half. He scored two touchdowns.

Windber’s Jarid Cover gained 214 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns on 29 carries out of the often-unstoppable single wing offense.

Township scored the final three points on a 15-play drive that started at its own

35 with 7:18 left.

Zaman had 11 carries on the march that was helped by a Windber pass interference penalty called in the end zone. On second-and-goal from the 4, Zaman lost the handle and the loose football was scooped up by the Indians at the 2.

Township had used all three of its timeouts, so with the clock winding down, quarterback George Bivens spiked the ball with 8.8 showing.

Windber called back-to-back timeouts to ice Thomas.

“I wasn’t worried about it,” said Thomas, who is among the area’s kicking leaders in points. “I knew it was going in. I knew we were good. It went in. We won it. I’m speechless.

“I knew we practiced. I knew we worked up to that,” Thomas said. “I didn’t win that game. I owe all the credit to the whole team.”

Windber set the tone early though its

14-play, 48-yard march ended in the end zone when Township’s Kyle Zambanini intercepted a pass and returned it to his own 24.

“That first series hurt,” DeMarco said.

“We were moving the ball. The penalties started in the red zone. We came away with nothing. I think if we would have scored on that first series, I’m not saying we would have won, but that was a big series for us not putting points up.”

The Indians needed only three plays to score, as quarterback Bivens hit Dan Blank with a pass at the Windber 48-yard line, and Blank ran the rest of the way for a score at 3:30 of the first. The extra-point attempt failed.

Windber began another long march, chewing up the rest of the opening quarter, in which the Ramblers held a time of possession advantage of 10:27 to 1:33.

The Ramblers took a 7-6 advantage on quarterback Erick Strapple’s 12-yard dash and Brandon Ulasky’s extra-point kick 52 seconds into the second quarter.

Township’s Zaman’s 32-yard run and a 32-yard pass to Kyle Zambanini keyed a drive capped by Zaman’s 8-yard run that made it 12-7 at 7:56 of the second.

Windber followed with a

13-play drive that ended with Cover’s 51-yard touchdown run 2:03 before halftime.

Ulasky, a receiver-cornerback-kicker, was injured during the march, and Chris Walerysiak was called upon to boot the extra point, setting a 14-12 halftime score.

The Ramblers rushed for

238 first-half yards on

38 attempts.

The Indians opened the second half with a 12-play,

62-yard scoring drive as Zaman ran each time. His final run around the end from 11 yards made it 18-14 Township at 5:21 of the third.

Windber responded with a 10-play, 64-yard march finished off by Cover's 28-yard run on a fourth-and-4 play with 20.5 seconds left in the third to make it 20-18.

Township has a bye next week, and will play the District 7 champion on either Dec. 4 or Dec. 5.