Keystone Oaks High School football coach Nick Kamberis was obviously disappointed with the Golden Eagles' loss to Greensburg Central Catholic in the WPIAL Class AA semifinals last Friday.

But Kamberis didn't want to dwell on the negative.

He was more impressed with the Golden Eagles' record-setting performance during the 2009 season.

"I told the kids that the season is not predicated on one game," Kamberis said. "You have to look at the overall picture to see what we accomplished this year.

"We are the first Keystone Oaks team to record 10 victories. We're the first to advance to the WPIAL semifinals. We set a school record for the most points scored (381). We also were the first team in school history to have two 1,000-yard rushers. That's a lot to be proud of."

Keystone Oaks' 24-19 loss to Greensburg Central capped a 10-2 season.

"The kids are obviously disappointed to fall one win short of a trip to Heinz Field, but when reality sinks in, they will all realize that we had a great season," Kamberis said.

Keystone Oaks opened the game with a four-play, 73-yard scoring drive. Jordan Maddox carried on three of the four plays and capped the drive with a 20-yard run. The key play was a 29-yard pass from Matt Buckley to Lee Shearn.

Greensburg Central responded with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that yielded a 26-yard field goal by Brian Gongaware, early in the second quarter. The key play was a 23-yard pass from Trent Hurley to David Miller.

Keystone Oaks moved from its own 28 to the Greensburg Central Catholic 38 on its next possession, but a fumble by Maddox gave the ball back to the Centurions, who drove 57 yards on five plays to score the go-ahead touchdown with 4:59 left in the first half. The touchdown came on a 44-yard pass from Hurley to Evan Marshall, who ran a fly pattern to the right corner of the end zone.

"We fumbled the ball three times," Kamberis said. "You can't turn the ball over that many times in a playoff game and not have it hurt you. [Greensburg Central] capitalized on two of our turnovers."

Keystone Oaks committed its third turnover on its opening drive of the second half when Shearn fumbled near midfield. Greensburg Central scored three plays later on a 47-yard pass from Hurley to Marshall.

"We let [Marshall] get behind us on those two plays," Kamberis said. "[Hurley] is a big-time player. He threw two strikes of 40-plus yards that [Marshall] caught in stride. Both touchdowns came after turnovers. [Trailing 17-7] really changed our offensive strategy."

Keystone Oaks put together its longest drive late in the third quarter and scored on an 8-yard run by Matt McCann. The score capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive, and cut Greensburg Central's advantage to 17-13, after a missed extra point.

The key play was a 20-yard pass from Buckley to Shearn on a fourth-and-12 play, which gave the Golden Eagles a first down on the 8.

"Matt [McCann] has been nursing an injury, so we didn't use him on offense during the first half," said Kamberis. "That forced us to use Jordan [Maddox] more in the first half. He wasn't used to running that many times [15] in the first half. Matt came to me at halftime and said he wanted to play both ways in the second half."

Greensburg Central Catholic clinched the victory with a 34-yard touchdown run by David Miller with 5:42 left in the game. Miller ran on all five plays during the 68-yard drive. Miller ran for 93 yards on 13 carries in the first half and finished the game with 217 yards on 29 carries.

"We had a good gameplan to hold Miller in check," Kamberis said. "He just gets stronger as the game goes on."

Keystone Oaks scored its final touchdown with 3:19 left on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Barkley to Shearn. The Golden Eagles tried an onside kick, but Greensburg Central recovered and ran out the clock.

"This was a senior-dominated team," Kamberis said. "We lose eight starters to graduation on offense and seven on defense."

McCann, Maddox, and Buckley are expected to return, however. McCann, a junior, finished the season with 1,801 yards and 22 touchdowns on 175 carries. Maddox, also a junior, finished with 1,443 yards and 23 touchdowns on 173 carries. Buckley, a sophomore, completed 44 of 71 passes for 740 yards and four touchdowns.

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