ROOM TO RUN — Catholic Central's Tommy Pergi finds room around the edge behind blocks from teammates Camden Bradley and Matthew Sprochi during Saturday's playoff game at Harding Stadium. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — In the playoffs, there’s no margin for error. Unfortunately for Catholic Central, they had a couple of them in key moments Saturday night.

Visiting Corning Miller, however, played a near spotless game and left Harding Stadium with a 36-20 victory in the Division VII, Region 27 quarterfinals. They will meet top-seeded Danville in the regional semis next week.

Central, which was the No. 4 seed in the region and won a playoff game for the first time in 11 years last week, closes its season at 8-4.

“Give (Miller) credit, they were very fast,” Central head coach Eric Meek said. “We moved the ball well at times and controlled the clock, but we didn’t execute a few plays offensively.

“It was a great season.”

The Crusaders threw an interception in the end zone in the first half, then had a sure touchdown and a would-be fourth conversion dropped in the second half when they were playing catch up.

The Falcons only costly mistake came on the opening play of the game when they fumbled the opening kick, which led to a Central score. Miller, the No. 5 seed, answered to take the lead, though, and from there never trailed again.

The Falcons (10-2) ran the ball 40 times for 365 yards and all five of their scores, attempting just three passes.

Central also ran it effectively with 46 carries for 207 yards, but never broke the big runs they have been accustom to most of the season. Miller did have splash plays with four runs of 25 or more yards, scoring runs of 36 and 57 yards being two of them.

After the Falcons fumbled the opening kick, the Crusaders put together a 14-play drive that ended with Matthew Sprochi finding Rahim Mitchell in the corner of the end zone for a 6-0 lead.

The Falcons quickly answered, Zander Bice (21 carries, 193 yards) scoring on a 2-yard plunge after breaking a 41-yard run to set it up, the kick making it 7-6, which stood as the score after one quarter.

Central drove down inside the Miller 5 looking to answer on the next drive, but the Falcons’ Nick Thompson intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the threat.

Later in the quarter, Bice broke a 36-yard scoring run to make it 14-6.

Central would answer before the break, driving deep into the Falcons end with a long drive before Sprochi fired a pass to Noah Hough, who made a nice grab off a tip to make it 14-12 with nine second left in the half, a two-point pass try failing.

A nice return set the Crusaders up in good field position to start the second half, but a fourth-down pass try after a pair of penalties would have converted but the ball came lose as the receiver hit the ground with it to turn it over on downs.

Two plays later, Miller QB Logan Doughty (10 carries, 110 yards) went 57 yards to score on a keeper to make it 21-12.

On its next possession, the Falcons put together a 15-play, 93-yard drive on which they converted a fourth down before Noah Lemaster scored his first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 1-yard plunge. The Falcons went for two and converted to make it a three-score game with 10:31 to play.

Central wasn’t ready to go away yet, however, as Sprochi completed a couple of passes then ran for a 9-yard score, a Tommy Pergi conversion run making it 29-20, then the Crusaders recovered an onside kick to be right back in business.

On the first play, Sprochi appeared to have a wide open receiver behind the defense, but the pass was dropped near the goal line and the Crusaders ended up turning the ball over on downs to end the budding momentum.

Miller then put together a long drive that took more than six minutes off the clock and ended with Lemaster’s second TD to seal the deal.

The game was the final one for 10 Crusader seniors – Jimmy Hernon, Hough, Kolbe Owen, Pergi, Timmy Mihalyo, Peter Liebhaber, Jeremy Orsay, Rusty Mustacchio, Peyton Rauch and Camden Bradley.

“This was a group of 10 great seniors,” Meek said. “It’s a group that’s going to be hard to say goodbye to, not only athletically but from a personal standpoint. They’re really wonderful kids.”

OHSAA Division VII Playoffs

Region 27 Quartefinals

No. 5 Corning Miller 36, No. 4 Catholic Central 20

CM 7-7-7-15 – 36

CC 6-6-0-8 – 20

SCORING PLAYS

First Quarter

CC: Mitchell 3 pass from Sprochi (kick failed) 3:34

CM: Bice 2 run (Richmond kick) 1:32

Second Quarter

CM: Bice 36 run (Richmond kick) 4:22

CC: Hough 3 pass from Sprochi (pass failed) :09

Third Quarter

CM: Doughty 57 run (Richmond kick) 8:13

Fourth Quarter

CM: Lemaster 1 run (Lemaster pass from Doughty) 10:31

CC: Sprochi 9 run (Pergi run) 8:19

CM: Lemaster 35 run (Richmond kick) 1:03

RUSHING: Miller 40-365-5TD (Doughty 10-110-TD; Bice 21-193-2TD; Thompson 1-(-3); Lemaster 8-65-2TD); Central 46-207-TD (Hernon 20-90; Pergi 18-64; Sprochi 8-53-TD)

PASSING: Miller 1-3-18 (all by Doughty); Central 5-14-30-2TD-INT (all by Sprochi)

RECEIVING: Miller 1-18 (all by Dorsey); Central 5-30-2TD (Mitchell 2-11-TD; Hough 1-3-TD; Pergi 2-16)

FIRST DOWNS: Miller 13; Central 13

PENALTIES-YARDS: Miller 3-18; Central 3-20

FUMBLES-LOST: Miller 1-1; Central 0-0