Trailing 7-6, Venerable spent an entire third-quarter timeout Saturday arguing a pass interference call, which came on fourth-and-12 and gave Bloomington a first down at the NCHS 13-yard line.

"I needed to get a little heat off, needed to vent a little," he said.

When play resumed, NCHS linebacker Sam Smith made a diving interception at the 5. The Ironmen then marched the football 95 yards in 10 plays for the go-ahead touchdown, and went on to a 19-7 victory over visiting BHS in a second-round Class 6A playoff game.

The win in the 100th meeting between the schools advanced second-seeded NCHS (10-1) to next week's quarterfinal at Mount Vernon. Third-seeded BHS ended 9-2 with its second loss to the Ironmen this season, and first in four playoff games against NCHS.

"Coach got us up when he came out on the field. That pumped us," Smith said. "It (the pass) was a tight end dump and we'd been practicing for it all week. I just saw it and I made the play, luckily."

"He made a good play," BHS quarterback Brent Holtz said. "I should have thrown it over him though for our tight end to go up and get it. I just had a bad throw, and the guy was able to capitalize on it."

Fullback Shannon Cobb capped the ensuing long drive with a 21-yard TD run. The pass for the two-point conversion failed, leaving the Ironmen ahead 12-7 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.

"That play (the interception), and the ability of their quarterback (Craig Lutes) to scramble and get a big first down, that swings momentum," BHS coach Rigo Schmelzer said.

"Then their line starts to get more active and involved. At that point, our defensive line is either playing too high, or they're just getting tired and worn down."

The lead grew after NCHS sophomore Alex Buck recovered a fumbled handoff on BHS' next play, setting up a 51-yard, 10-play drive. Cobb covered the final eight yards, and Nate Rapp's extra-point kick made it 19-7 with 8:38 to go.

The Raiders could not threaten after that. The Ironmen limited BHS to 64 second-half yards, including 14 on seven carries by star tailback Valshun Powe. Powe, who came in with 1,389 yards and 11.2 per carry, finished with 90 yards in 23 attempts.

Sophomore linebacker Austin Kull had 13 tackles, with Smith and Jake Detmers adding 12 each.

"He's a great running back. But we're always pretty good about getting a lot of guys to the ball," Buck said. "We knew we had to gang tackle."

Perhaps the game's biggest tackle came on the final play of the first half. Leading 7-6, Holtz completed a pass to Dustin Kelly, who nearly reached the end zone on a 52-yard play. He was dragged down by Buck at the 1.

"I thought I had it over (the goal line)," Kelly said. "Even if I didn't, I thought I'd fumbled (into the end zone). But I think the ref made a good call from what he could see."

"Sam's interception and the tackle right before half were two turning points," Venerable said. "Those were big plays because they're in the red zone and we turned them away."

BHS took its 7-6 lead late in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Powe, capping a 10-play drive, and Eren Eti's extra point.

The Ironmen scored first when Cobb's 1-yard run ended an 11-play, 69-yard drive in the first quarter. Rapp's extra-point kick was wide.

NCHS gained 164 of its 236 yards rushing in the second half behind linemen Darren Dierkes, Mike Cross, Clifford Ford, Nick Price, Tyson Pittman, Tyler Sadlo and tight end Jay Rodriguez.

Cobb finished with 104 yards on 14 carries, and sophomore tailback Austin Davis had 85 yards in 21 attempts.

"It all starts at the line of scrimmage," Cobb said. "Then the running backs can do their job."

"They ran hard, they ran well and they made their key blocks," Holtz said. "They just put it to us."

NCHS had 283 yards of offense to 235 for BHS. The Raiders had five first downs in the second half and none in the fourth quarter.

"We missed some of our blocking assignments, but a lot of that is because of the quality of team we were facing," Schmelzer said. "It hurts to lose to your rival twice, but I think today they showed themselves to be the better club."