HERSHEY, Pa. -- The snow was coming so hard that grounds crew workers were shoveling the field in between plays. At times, a tractor with a plow sped across the field.

Lancaster Catholic took it as a cue.

For one possession in the second half of yesterday's PIAA Class AA championship, Lancaster Catholic seemingly hooked up its offense to the tractor and plowed through Greensburg Central Catholic for a long scoring drive.

It was the only score of the second half and it turned out to be the difference in Lancaster Catholic's 21-14 victory against Greensburg Central Catholic at the winter wonderland of Hersheypark Stadium.

The game was played in a non-stop snowstorm. Several inches of snow were on the field an hour before the contest started, but PIAA officials decided at 7 yesterday morning that the game would be played, mainly because both teams were in Hershey the night before.

In the end, the loss meant the WPIAL finished 1-1 in championship games -- Clairton won the Class A title Friday. The loss also broke an 11-game winning streak for Greensburg Central Catholic (13-3).

"You hate to have a game decided in conditions like this and that's the honest to God truth. My hat is off to both teams because it was a great game," Lancaster Catholic coach Bruce Harbach said.

On a day when the weather had some in Hershey heading for the supermarket to stock up on bread and milk, Lancaster Catholic had to go away from its bread and butter -- the pass. Lancaster Catholic had the most prolific passer in the history of Pennsylvania high school football. Kyle Smith came in with more than 8,500 yards passing, but this was a day more suited for throwing snowballs than flinging footballs. Smith attempted only nine passes and completed four for 35 yards.

"I never imagined to win this type of game," Smith said. "But I'm going to cherish it the rest of my life."

Much credit can be given to that long drive in the second half as Lancaster Catholic (15-1) came back from a 14-7 first-quarter deficit to win its first PIAA football title in school history. On the go-ahead drive at the start of the third quarter, Lancaster Catholic gained 56 yards in 12 plays and took 6:31 off the clock. Smith capped the march with a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Lancaster Catholic picked up one first down in the drive when Greensburg Central jumped offside on a fourth-and-1 at the 11.

"I think we thought the weather would help us because we're more of a running team and they're more of a throwing team," said Trent Hurley, Greensburg Central Catholic's senior quarterback. "We thought we'd win the game in the trenches. We played tough, but they played tough, too. You have to give credit to them."

Greensburg Central Catholic running back David Miller rushed for 104 yards but needed 30 carries to do it. Greensburg Central had only 144 yards rushing on 45 attempts.

Miller went over 4,000 yards rushing for his career, but it was of little consolation.

"I don't care about 4,000 yards. I wanted a state championship," Miller said. "It was hard to play in this weather, but I just thought we didn't execute at all. That's not the way we play.

"They were very good on defense. They were a lot better than we thought. They shut us down and they tackled really well."

The drive in the second half was one of two long marches for Lancaster Catholic. The other was a 15-play, 63-yard drive in the second quarter that was capped by Jordan Stewart's 1-yard touchdown run. That tied the game, 14-14, with 5:31 left in the half.

Lancaster Catholic's other touchdown came on its first offensive play when Quinn Houser took a handoff 62 yards for a score. It came after Greensburg Central Catholic opened the game with a 12-play, 66-yard drive that ended with Hurley's 7-yard touchdown run.

Hurley also scored on a 4-yard run with 1:17 left in the first quarter that gave Greensburg Central a 14-7 lead, but the Centurions never found the end zone again.

"Looking at film on them, they didn't seem to be as big as they were in person," Greensburg Central Catholic coach Muzzy Colosimo said.

Greensburg Central drove from its 3 to the Lancaster Catholic 24 in the fourth quarter, but three plays gained only 1 yard, and Hurley's fourth-down pass into the end zone was incomplete.

Greensburg Central started its next possession at the Lancaster Catholic 43 but turned the ball over on downs again.

"You would've liked to win this one, but at 2-2 [early in the season], we were dead in the water," Colosimo said. "We came this far and I could never ask these kids to do more. They've been absolutely super. They played to the very last down."

Er, snowflake.

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