Playing the Bearcats on Saturday in the AAL2 North Division Championship, the Bearcats once again gave the Miners their best shot, but once again, it was not enough. The Miners defense dominated while the offense overcame the absence of their starting quarterback to advance to the league championship, 28-17.

Trailing most of the game, Wheeling took a five-point lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, and the Miners defense made clutch stop after clutch stop the rest of the way to secure the victory.

“It was just a fight,” Wheeling Miners head coach Josh Resignalo said. “That was a dogfight, and we kept fighting. We never gave up.

Wheeling came away with two interceptions, five sacks, and multiple fourth-down stops- three in the fourth quarter alone.

“Defense played a heck of a game,” Resignalo said. “They are the reason why we won this game overall. We did what we needed to do in different situations offensively but defense won that game. Coach Mott [Gaymon] did a heck of a job with our defense tonight.”

The fourth quarter started with a one-yard quarterback sneak by Wheeling’s Stephan Panasuk, putting the Miners ahead 22-17, and the defense would take it from there.

Wheeling forced a turnover on downs the following possession, Shaun McGee coming through for a fourth-down sack.

The Miners could not gain traction on offense, and the defense was called upon once again to protect their lead at midfield. They were up for the challenge.

Wheeling continued to tee off on the quarterback, Isaiah Lewis getting in on the action for a third-down sack, and it was Devon Thomas’ turn on fourth down, giving their offense the ball right back with 2:14 to play in the game.

The defense rushed back to the sideline, triumphant. But they would be needed once more before the end.

By arena football rule, the clock stops on negative plays- meaning the Miners could not just kneel and salt away the game.

The Miners opted for inside handoffs to try and gain yards and keep the clock moving. They fumbled on their first play, and Jersey recovered.

The Bearcats started on their own 15 with 53 seconds to play. The Miners defense, with every right to be let down by the turn of events, only continued to turn up the pressure, feeding off a frenzied WesBanco Arena crowd.

The raucous fan noise might have played a part in back-to-back false starts to begin the drive. Finally getting a play off from their own five, Miners defenders immediately began to bear down on Jersey quarterback Khalil Trotman, who flicked a pass out to the flats before being drilled in his own end zone.

The pass floated into the arms of Miners safety Dontae Mason, who waltzed a short distance into the end zone to put Wheeling ahead 28-17 after a blocked extra point.

“I hope that everyone got a feel of what this environment could be like,” Resignalo said of the final drive. “It was electric, and you could feel the crowd’s energy. The defense was feeding off of it. This was a whole Valley win, I guess you could call it. It was a whole collective effort and it was pretty awesome.”

Wheeling, now 9-0, will face either the Peach State Cats or Waco Tornadoes for the AAL2 Championship.

“The message is going to be one more game,” Resignalo said. “One last game we’ve got to get through to get it done. We should be in a good situation in a couple weeks with this bye week.

“We definitely could use a bye week, get some recovery time- especially with our partnership with Thrive Wheeling. Our guys are certainly going to be there during this bye week. We’ll get through this week and we’ll be ready for the championship game.”

The Bearcats kicked a field goal in their first possession of the game, but that would be the only points Jersey would score on offense the whole night. A kick-return touchdown and pick-six- both in the first quarter- would make up 14 of their 17 points in the game.

The Miners took a 7-3 lead with five minutes to play in the first, Panasuk delivering a deep pass down the sideline to Jeremiah Flores for a 30-yard touchdown. The play was set up by a strip-sack from Devon Thomas, recovered by Isaiah Lewis.

Flores was the leading receiver Saturday for Wheeling, coming away with five catches for 67 yards.

Jersey’s kickoff return TD by Tyler Cooperswood and pick-six by Nick Price put Jersey ahead 17-7 by the end of the first quarter.

Andre Thomas-Cobb plunged through for a five-yard touchdown run, lining up as a receiver with forward motion, but cutting in to take a handoff into the end zone.

Wheeling’s Tyre Williams kept Jersey off the board at the end of the third quarter, snagging an interception at the goalline with three minutes to play in the period.

Miners receiver Pete Savrides had perhaps the catch of the day to help Wheeling march down the field for Panasuk’s eventual touchdown sneak, leaping up at the arena wall for a catch sandwiched between two defenders, tumbling over the wall into the stands, but maintaining possession for a 15-yard reception.

Panasuk finished with 155 passing yards, a passing and rushing touchdown, and two interceptions filling in for usual starter Grant Russell, who was unavailable for the game.

The Nailers’ championship bout is schedule for July 6.