SHADYSIDE’S WYATT Reiman (25) turns the corner against East Knox Friday night in Division VII, Region 27 quarterfinal action in Howard. The Tigers won 14-0.

HOWARD — No matter the level at which football is being played, it always boils down to running the ball, tackling and controlling the line of scrimmage.

Shadyside did all three impressively Friday night and thus will be playing in Division VII, Region 27 semifinals

The Tigers made the nearly two-hour trip here and saw their stay extended by an additional two hours because of a weather delay. However, it was a happy ride home by virtue of 14-0 shutout of second-seeded East Knox.

“Our line did the job, we kept our penalties to a minimum and I think we learned a little bit from playing on a sloppy field (a few years ago against Wheeling Central) and our defense did one heck of a job,” a satisified Shadyside head coach Mark Holenka said.

Next up for the Tigers is a return trip to Hannibal to take on third-seeded River, which cruised past Reedsville Eastern.

“I guess it’s like the AFC North because we’re going to have to beat them twice,” Holenka smiled. ”

Shadyside, which received a lights-out defensive performance, stuffed an East Knox drive when senior defensive back Jordan Joseph picked off a pass.

It didn’t take the Tigers long to flex their muscles.

Junior quarterback Rhys Francis and classmate Mason VanNest hooked up on a 52-yard pitch-and-catch in which VanNest was running free behind the Bulldogs’ secondary.

The Orange then turned to the ground game and a solid mixture of junior Wyatt Reiman and senior Jacob Visnic.

Six plays later, Visnic capped the 88-yard drive from 4 yards out. VanNest went around the end for the 2-point conversion.

“Scoring first was real big because (East Knox) knew they’d have to score twice to win,” Holenka said. ”

Each team had only four possessions in the first half, which needed just 48 minutes to play.

Just as the teams were preparing for the second half, the officials saw lightning and heard thunder. They promptly sent the players off.

When play resumed, shortly after 9:30 p.m., the Tigers had the ball first.

“We told the kids the team that scored first (in the second half) was going to win the game,” Holenka said. “The delay was tough because you’re trying to decide if you should let the kids eat or not eat, you tend to lose your focus and things like that.”

On their second possession of the half, the Tigers put together a 14-play drive, which eventually got stuffed on downs.

“The first drive (after the delay) looked like we had just sat through a delay, but I thought we got the momentum back and we played well,” Holenka said.

However, for the second time, Shadyside stepped in front of a pass. This time it was Francis. Early in the fourth quarter, and six plays after the pick, junior Wyatt Reiman, who didn’t see action last week against Frontier, was off to the races from 44 yards out.

The run for two failed.

Reiman and Visnic were workhorses for the Tigers. Reiman carried 33 times for 179. Visnic complemented him well, lugging the ball 16 times for 75 yards.

Shadyside limited the Bulldogs to 29 yards rushing and only 98 passing yards.