After last night’s 1A western regional final, Mount Airy faithful are probably still holding their collective breaths.

You couldn’t blame them, as the Granite Bears squeaked out a trip to their second consecutive 1A state title game with a 27-26 come from behind victory over the Robbinsville Black Knights.

Mount Airy’s Justin Collier had the play of the game, if not the season, when he hauled in a Ben Hinson pass on fourth and-17 with 1:15 remaining to tie the score at 26.

A Tyler Hull extra point later the Bears were in a position that just minutes early seemed improbable.

After Mount Airy’s Andy Temoney fumbled following a long run up the middle with 9:47 left in the game and Robbinsville with a 26-13 lead, things looked bleak.

All night the Black Knights burned the Bears on third down, converting more times than not and deflating an obviously tired Mount Airy defense.

Bears fans must have thought they were having a bad flash of deja vu, as time after time the Mount Airy defense stuffed the Robbinsville run only to give up big pass plays for first downs.

“It definitely looked as though we didn’t know what we were doing,” defensive coordinator Chris Johnson said. “They ran an overload offense which we rarely adjusted to correctly. We thought we were coached up on it but in the end we struggled in stopping them when they went to that set. Their kids should be given a lot of credit. They had a good game plan and their kids executed. They earned those third down conversions.”

While third downs were a nightmare for the Bears all night, it wasn’t this particular time, as after Temoney’s fumble Mount Airy’s defense held, with Collier nearly picking up a fumbled pitch by Robbinsville quarterback Luke Perkins and taking it in for a score.

The Knights recovered but were forced to punt, with Hinson hitting Collier shortly after on a 20-yard touchdown pass to pull the score to 26-20 Robbinsville with 5:29 remaining.

On the Knights ensuing possession another third down conversion, this time on a spectacular sliding catch from Robbinsville’s Randy Hernandez, gave the Knights new life at their own 49 with 4:06 left to play.

But once again the Bears stuffed two consecutive running plays to force third-and-11.

This time on third down, Robbinsville coach Dee Walsh tried some trickery with a double-reverse pass. While the outside was wide open, the Knights receivers were not, as Myles Marion picked off the throw by Blake Anderson at the Bears own 20 yard line and turned the air electric at Wallace Shelton Stadium.

On the ensuing drive’s first play from scrimmage, Hinson hit Collier on the right sideline for a 29-yard gain.

Then Temoney broke several tackles on a rumbling stumbling 40-yard run to the Robbinsville 12 yard line. It would be the senior back’s final carry of the night as a twisted ankle was his reward for the outstanding effort.

On first down with Temoney on the sideline, the Bears elected to hand off the captain Luke Wheeler, who fumbled, but recovered himself, narrowly avoiding utter disaster.

Wheeler had injured his right hand during the early goings of the third quarter and seemed to have little use of it on defense and offense for the remainder of the game, even needing teammates to buckle his chin strap.

With Mount Airy’s starting backfield neutralized, the load fell squarely on Hinson’s shoulders.

Twice he was forced out of the pocket, which included taking a big sack on third down to force fourth-and-17 with a first down at the two yard line and just more than a minute left in the game.

The Bears called their final time-out to talk things over.

On the biggest snap of the season, Hinson took two steps and fired a perfect pass high into the right corner of the end zone with Collier jumping and coming down with the biggest play in a game full of big plays.

“I thought our best effort was to throw it up and for him (Collier) to go up against No. 3 or No. 22 and let Collier make a jump ball,” Mount Airy coach Kelly Holder said. “He’s a super athlete and he’d been cramping all night long and it’s amazing what he did. We just put it all on Justin’s shoulders. We knew they’d bracket him and they did bracket him, but he just made a great play. It wasn’t a great call, it was just a great catch.”

After the catch jubilation ensued on the Mount Airy sideline but the game was still not over.

Robbinsville had one final shot, but Hinson picked off a Perkins pass on third and seven and the Bears assumed the victory formation, officially punching their ticket to BB&T Field in Winston-Salem next Saturday.

Robbinsville jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a 47-yard catch and a 36-yard run from Kurt Odom.

Odom finished with 100 yards on 25 carries for two scores and two catches for 80 yards and one touchdown.

The Bears didn’t get on the scoreboard until nine minutes left in the second quarter on a 21-yard Tyler Hull field goal after Robbinsville held Mount Airy on four plays at the goal line.

Temoney picked up a touchdown six minutes later on a four-yard run and Tyler Hull booted a huge 38-yard field goal just two seconds before the half to pull the score to 14-13 Robbinsville heading into the locker room.

Mount Airy’s offense didn’t take the field until seven minutes into the second half, after a muffed punt by Collier gave Robbinsville the ball back after the Bear defense held on the Knights first possession of the third quarter.

The turnover proved costly as Robbinsville’s Taylor Wachacha rumbled in from four yards out shortly after to give the Knights a 20-13 lead.

In the start of the fourth, after a Randy Hernandez interception, Odom found his way in from the two-yard line to put the Bears down two scores with 10 minutes to go.

Wheeler said after the Knights final score, he told his teammates it was time to step it up.

“There for a minute it was tough, when we got down two touchdowns it was real hard for us to keep our cool,” he said. “I just brought the guys in and said ‘Look. Before halftime we just drove it down the field in 46 seconds and we’ve got 10 minutes, we can do anything right now,’ and I think that really helped. ‘Boo’ busted some really big runs at the end and I think that got us momentum, but I can’t say enough about Justin’s catch at the end. There’s not really much you can say about that except ‘Amazing.’”

Of the final catch, Collier said it was a matter of who wanted it more.

“After they scored we had to come back, we had to win,” Collier said. “It was our goal to get to the state championship and that’s what we had to do. We worked too hard for this.”

While Odom broke two big plays for early scores, it was Mount Airy’s self inflicted wounds which caused the Bear’s the most trouble in the first half.

But Holder stuck to his guns on offense, sticking with the game plan which got them there and giving the ball to Temoney, who finished with 134 yards on 18 carries for one touchdown.

“We thought we could move the ball running and I was glad that I didn’t sell out to the pass when we got down by two scores,” Holder said. “We kept the ball on the ground some and I thought that was really big for us. Up front we were undersized and they were probably a little stronger than we were too, we just had to gut it out. We were fortunate to win.”

Holder said while the run proved to be key, Hinson’s composure under pressure was a major factor in the win.

“I give him a game plan sheet every Friday and I write him notes on it and composure is one of them, even if we get down a little bit, which really paid off for us,” Holder said. “He had good composure. He took a sack down there I wish he had thrown to his mama, but other than that, he played pretty doggone good and pretty smart.”

Hinson was 9-of-18 passing for 147 yards and two scores. Six of those completions and both touchdowns went to Collier, who ended the night with 113 yards receiving.

Next, the Bears will try to heal up after an extremely physical game before facing Wallace-Rose Hill in the 1A title game next Saturday in Winston-Salem at noon.

Rose Hill was a 46-14 winner over North Edgecombe Friday in the 1A eastern final.

Contact Thomas Smith at tsmith@mtairynews or 719-1920.