HOLLIDAYSBURG – In a splendid high school football game that featured a moment of truth in the final seconds, the Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers used a great defensive stand to hold off Jersey Shore, 27-25, at Tiger Stadium Friday night.

Jersey Shore marched from its own 8-yard line in eight plays to gain a first-and-goal at the Hollidaysburg 2 with under a minute left.

The Tigers’ defense held Jersey Shore to a single yard on two running plays into the line, and with 22 seconds left, a bad exchange in the middle of a scrum on third down was recovered by Hollidaysburg junior outside linebacker Josh Banks back at the 10-yard line, preserving the Golden Tigers’ victory in Hollidaysburg’s homecoming game.

“They’re a good team, and I had a thought in the back of my mind that I had to make a big play,” Banks said. “It was a mis-snap, I came off the edge, and I just jumped on it.”

The play ended a game in which neither team truly deserved to lose.

“They’re a really good team,” Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said of the Bulldogs. “The way that they battled back and drove down the field, it was unfortunate for them that things happened the way that they did. I was praying at the end – and we got three stops there and recovered the fumble.

“We had a total team effort where a lot of different guys made big plays,” DeLattre said. “I think that we had a great effort in all three phases of the game tonight – offense, defense and special teams – and to beat a team that’s as good as they are requires a total team effort.”

Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish, whose team dropped to 5-2, tipped his proverbial cap to Hollidaysburg.

“Hats off to Hollidaysburg – they made one more play than we did at the end of the game,” Gravish said. “Homer does a great job with them and they’re a great team. Now we have to get back to the drawing board.”

Jersey Shore was without the services of its placekicker in the second half after he had been ejected for drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the first half. A potential game-winning field goal was therefore not an option for the Bulldogs, who came up short on three running plays, including the fumble.

“I had a play planned for fourth down if we got to that, but the ball squirted out into the backfield on the third-down exchange,” Gravish said. “I’m not sure what happened there.”

Jersey Shore senior quarterback Elijah Jordan had a monster game, completing 14 of 30 passes for 167 yards and four touchdowns, including three scoring throws to senior wideout Evan Snyder. Jordan also rushed 22 times for a team-leading 77 yards.

“We didn’t execute,” Jordan said of his team, which turned the ball over three times. “We made too many mistakes. This was a playoff atmosphere where it is important to keep your composure.”

Hollidaysburg, which improved to 6-1, overcame deficits of 13-0 in the first quarter and 19-17 in the third quarter to take a 24-19 lead on senior quarterback Maddox Bainey’s 22-yard scoring toss to senior wideout Brady Steiner, who made an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone with 1:44 left in the third period.

“I just beat my man to the outside, Maddox threw a great ball, and I just made the catch,” Steiner said.

Bainey completed 20 of 36 passes for 221 yards and also ran 2 yards for a second-quarter score to give Hollidaysburg a 17-13 lead at halftime.

The teams battled back and forth in the second half, with Jersey Shore taking a 19-17 lead on Jordan’s 14-yard scoring pass to Trent Severino in the third quarter.

After the Bainey touchdown pass to Steiner, Paul Wedel kicked his second 35-yard field goal of the night to give Hollidaysburg a 27-19 lead.

Snyder made a circus touchdown catch of Jordan’s 27-yard pass with 7:45 left in the game to pull Jersey Shore to within 27-25, but Jordan’s 2-point conversion pass was picked off by junior Kaden McCrystal in the end zone as Hollidaysburg maintained the lead.