Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Gateway's Paul Shulikov forces McKeesport quarterback Dan Kopolovich to fumble in the first half last night. Click photo for larger image.

Gateway was without its King last night, but the Gators still held onto the crown.

Gateway won the WPIAL Quad Southwest Conference crown last night, using an impressive defensive effort to turn back visiting McKeesport, 21-9, in front of a packed house at Antimarino Stadium.

Gateway, the Post-Gazette's No. 2 WPIAL Class AAAA team, played without star running back/defensive back Justin King, whose anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee was strained in last Friday against Trinity.

But the Gators didn't need King to sit on the conference championship throne again. This is the third year in a row Gateway won a conference title. The last time that happened was under legendary coach Pete Antimarino from 1984-86. Gateway coach Terry Smith, coincidentally, was on all three of those teams. And Antimarino was on hand to watch last night.

"When I took this job, my goal was to win one conference championship within four years," said Smith, who is in his third season. "To win three in three years. ...

"This is probably the single-best win I've had. We had a good one last year against Woodland Hills and won at Kiski Area the year before that. But this has to be the best because we did it without Justin."

The win gave Gateway an 8-1 record and the Gators finished the Quad Southwest with a perfect 6-0 mark. The main reason for the victory was the Gators' defense. McKeesport was averaging 48 points per game, the best in the WPIAL, and 55 over the past six contests. The Tigers' competition in those six games obviously didn't have the bite of the Gators.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Gateway quarterback Aaron Smith follows running back Justin Colbaugh up the field during last night's game against visiting McKeesport. Click photo for larger image.

"We knew their defense was good," McKeesport coach George Smith said.

McKeesport will be in the playoffs with a 7-2 record. The Tigers came in ranked No. 5 in Class AAAA.

King said he hopes to be ready for the first round of the playoffs next week. He went through pregame drills last night, but was favoring his left knee.

"I was probably questionable [Thursday]," King said. "It was really a game-time decision. I just couldn't cut the way I wanted to, so we figured why risk it.

"But these boys showed they're not Justin King. They're the Gateway team. This was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I don't know how coaches do it every week, just watching."

King came in with 1,354 yards rushing this year and needed only 29 yards to become the fourth runner in WPIAL Class AAAA history to rush for 4,000 yards. Without him, you might think Gateway would turn to its passing game with quarterback Aaron Smith (940 yards passing entering the game). But Smith was 0 for 5 and threw two interceptions last night.

So Gateway relied on its running game and a halfback-by-committee strategy. Gateway had 202 yards rushing and four different players had at least 40 yards rushing. Justin Colbaugh led with 64 on 10 carries. Mike Barlak came on late in the fourth quarter and had 51 yards on seven carries. Joe Martin had 45 on nine attempts. Smith added 42 yards on nine carries.

Colbaugh scored two touchdowns in the first half on runs of 8 and 32 yards to give Gateway a 14-9 halftime lead. The score stayed that way until Barlak added a 19-yard scoring run with 54.6 seconds left in the game.

"I think I have four tailbacks on this team who could start almost anywhere," said Terry Smith, whose team was second in the WPIAL in scoring at 41 points per game.

Despite Gateway's offensive success without King, Smith kept coming back to his defense for the main reason the Gators' won their eighth game in a row.

McKeesport's triple-option offense had been giving opponents fits. But McKeesport finished with only 193 rushing yards and only 73 in the second half. Quarterback Dan Kopolovich finished with 59 on 21 attempts and Travis McBride 34 on nine carries.

"We knew this game was coming down to our defense," Terry Smith said. "We preached it all week and all year that our defense has to win it for us."

Gateway's defense looked like the junior varsity squad on the first possession of the game, though. McKeesport took the opening kickoff and drove 71 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown. Kopolovich capped the march with a 7-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 play.

But after that, McKeesport had only 144 yards of offense the rest of the game. Linebackers Barlak and Dan Loheyde and lineman Matt Houy were the leaders of Gateway's defense.

"I have an outstanding coaching staff," Terry Smith said. "McKeesport did some things we didn't expect them to do on the first drive. We made some adjustments."

Gateway's first touchdown was set up when Kopolovich fumbled and Houy recovered at McKeesport's 21. Colbaugh scored from 8 yards out four plays later.

Colbaugh had a marvelous run for Gateway's second touchdown as he broke five tackles on his way to a 32-yard score with 5:59 left in the half.

A key series of plays came late in the first half as McKeesport had first-and-goal from the 1. But two plays, a procedure penalty and an incomplete pass moved the Tigers back to the 6, and they settled for a 22-yard field goal Keith Hasselhoff with 1:14 left in the half.

McKeesport got to the Gateway 27 midway through the third quarter, but a fumbled snap on fourth-and-7 doomed the Tigers.

McKeesport drove to Gateway's 26 in the fourth quarter, but again turned the ball over on downs.

"Everyone was saying Justin King was our whole team," Houy said. "We wanted to come out and say we're not just Justin."

And they have a crown to prove it.