Late in the game and Montour trailing, the play call was "50 Bengals." That's when Dillon Buechel changed his stripes.

One of the most prolific throwing quarterbacks in the history of Western Pennsylvania high school football, Buechel went against his reputation.

He tucked the ball and ran.

Montour ended up running a little farther up the highway toward Hershey.

Buechel, Montour's splendid senior quarterback, scored on a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left to give the Spartans a 25-21 victory against Grove City in a thrilling PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal at North Allegheny.

Montour (12-2) came back from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit, and the win put the Spartans into the semifinals next week. The championship game is the following week in Hershey.

Buechel is not known for his footwork. If you think his winning touchdown run was a little strange, consider this: It was his first rushing touchdown of the season.

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"I told him about six months ago that he was going to need to score a rushing touchdown before the year was over," Montour coach Lou Cerro said. "He picked a great time to do it."

While Buechel's run won the game, it was his throwing that helped bring Montour back from the 21-point first-half deficit. He finished 20 of 32 for 224 yards and three touchdowns, and moved past two others into third place on the all-time WPIAL passing list.

Buechel has 6,626 passing yards in his three-year career. He trails only Sto-Rox's Adam DiMichele (6,741 yards) and South Fayette's Christian Brumbaugh (7,162) on the all-time list.

But as for the winning touchdown, the play is designed to be a short pass over the middle to Aaron Reed. It worked for a touchdown on the final play of the first half. This time, the Spartans called for the play on third-and-goal at the 4. Buechel dropped back to pass before rolling left. He then took off for the left corner of the end zone and just got inside the pylon before going out of bounds.

"Aaron actually got mugged at the line, so I just started rolling left," Buechel said. "They had good coverage. But I saw a cornerback, one of our receivers and another one of their guys trailing.

"So I thought I'd go for it. I knew I'd make it. I wouldn't have run if I wasn't sure I was going to make it."

Montour looked unsure on offense and defense through much of the first half. Grove City's wing-T offense ripped through Montour. The Eagles scored the first three touchdowns of the game to grab a 21-0 lead with 5:46 left in the first half. Two of the touchdowns came after long drives of 77 and 93 yards. Foster Reznor scored first on a 5-yard run and Wesley Phipps scored on a 1-yarder.

After the second touchdown, Grove City recovered a pooch kick at the Montour 41. Three plays later, quarterback Tyler Dagres hit Reznor with a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Some might have thought Montour was suffering from that dreaded WPIAL championship hangover. No way. Grove City and its huge offensive line was simply good.

"They're a big team, and they're physical," Buechel said. "It took our defense -- and our offense, for that matter -- at least a quarter to get used to everything."

On the first play after falling behind, 21-0, Buechel hit Darren Massey with a 57-yard touchdown pass.

A big key to the game was Montour's final possession of the first half when the Spartans started at their 33 and moved 67 yards for a score on the final play of the half. Buechel was superb in the drive, completing 7 of 10 passes for 67 yards. The 4-yard touchdown pass to Reed made it 21-13 at halftime.

After giving up 223 yards of offense in the first half, Montour limited Grove City to 71 yards in the second half. Grove City's Wesley Phipps finished with 167 yards rushing, but only 56 in the second half.

"We just made a couple slant adjustments, but nothing crazy," Cerro said. "We said we had to tackle better and our linemen were flying up the field too much in the first half. You can't create lanes against Grove City."

Montour sliced the lead to 21-19 in the third quarter on Buechel's 7-yard touchdown pass to Devin Wilson, who finished with eight catches for 75 yards. But a run for a 2-point conversion failed.

Montour's winning touchdown drive started at the Grove City 43. A big play was a third-and-13 pass from Buechel to Reed for a first down.

"The kid just makes plays," Cerro said of Buechel.

Even with his legs.