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SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Pulaski County's Jolly Smith can't bear to watch the closing seconds of Saturday's loss to Amherst County in the Group AA Division 4 semifinal.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

E. J. Dobbins scores Pulaski's only touchdown on a 7-yard run against Amherst County in Saturday's Group AA Division 4 semifinal.

DUBLIN -- Amherst County's football program has won two consecutive VHSL Group AA Division 4 championships by dispatching victims with a quick-strike offense.

Saturday, the end was agonizingly slow for Pulaski County.

Working nearly seven minutes off the clock on its final drive, Amherst got a tie-breaking 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Anthony Rose with 53.6 seconds left as the Lancers ruined the Cougars' dreams of an undefeated season with a 13-7 victory at Kenneth J. Dobson Stadium.

Amherst (12-1) will face unbeaten Broad Run for the state championship Saturday at Liberty University where the Lancers won titles in 2006 and '07.

Pulaski, which did not surrender a point in its first two playoff games and allowed Amherst just 110 rushing yards, finished 12-1.

"You hate for the season to end, especially when you have kids like we've got," Pulaski County coach Jack Turner said. "I hate it for the kids. We just couldn't finish it up."

Rose's touchdown -- his second of the game -- was set up when Amherst linebacker A.J. Parrish intercepted a pass from quarterback Luke Watson intended for tight end Brandon Hazzard. The Pulaski receiver appeared to be open near midfield, but the 5-foot-10, 215-pound Parrish made a leaping grab.

"I saw No. 33 open so I went back to guard him," Parrish said. "He was behind me a little bit so I had to get back there faster.

"I jumped up for the ball and got it."

Watson said he put just a little too much air under the pass.

"Hazzard was open," the Pulaski junior QB said. "It was just a little bit underthrown. He made a good play on it, though."

First-year Amherst coach Cecil Phillips, a Radford native, knew Parrish's pick was the play of the game.

"He's our leader," Phillips said. "The kids really rally around him. Big-time players make big plays in big ballgames. There was none bigger than A.J.'s interception."

The play was doubly painful for Pulaski. Two-way starting lineman Josh Miller was taken out by an illegal block while trying to make a tackle on the return. The flag backed up Amherst to the Cougars' 49, but Miller left for good with an ankle injury.

Amherst ran almost every play to the side of the field where Miller would have been stationed.

"They found that side," Turner said. "That's where they ran the ball down to score."

The Lancers used 12 plays to go 49 yards, converting twice on short third-down runs. Pulaski's offense, which used two timeouts earlier in the half, could only watch the chains move and the seconds tick away from the sidelines.

"That was the worst part," Watson said.

Rose, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior, admitted to feeling some nerves on the game-winning drive.

"I was hyped, know what I'm saying?" Rose said. "But on the field I've got to keep it calm so I can keep my teammates calm and we can go in for the score.

"The closer we got, I knew I had to burn clock. I couldn't give their offense time to go back and score. They have a very dangerous offense."

Pulaski outscored Blacksburg and Salem 80-0 in its first two games without committing any turnovers. The Cougars' final drive ended with their second turnover of the day as Watson lost the handle coming away from center and the Lancers recovered.

Celebration on one sideline.

Heartbreak on the other.

Pulaski got most of its offense in the first half. A 25-yard run by halfback Nubian Peak set up a 7-yard TD carry by fullback E.J. Dobbins on the Cougars' second possession for a 7-0 lead.

However, running room got scarce against Amherst's quick defense. When Rose tied the game on a 3-yard run with 5:25 left in the first half, Pulaski was in the midst of a string of five straight possessions that would end with a punt.

Peak gained 83 yards in the first half, but finished with 91 on 16 carries. The Cougars managed 53 total yards after halftime.

"You'd see a hole, then right in front of your eyes it would disappear," Watson said. "You've got to give credit where credit is due. We knew we were going to be in a dogfight."

Poor field position doomed the Cougars in the second half. Amherst went for a fake field goal early in the third quarter, but Tyler Dawson was stopped at the Pulaski 1. The two teams traded punts, but the Cougars again were backed up as Taylor Grubbs rolled a kick back to the 1-yard line.

Pulaski barely moved the ball 2 yards in three plays.

"It was rough to get our foot in it offensively," Watson said. "We couldn't call the plays we normally call with the threat of getting caught in the end zone. It really narrowed our playbook."

The Cougars also hurt themselves with mistakes. Peak had a certain TD pass in the first quarter bounce off his chest, and Pulaski had problems getting the correct offensive personnel on the field, costing the Cougars two timeouts.

"We had to waste a couple of timeouts that could have helped us at the end of the game," Peak said. "I felt we were more physical than them. Even they can agree to that. I know we hit them harder than they hit us.

"We just made a couple of mistakes. It's nobody's fault. It's no coach's fault, no player's fault."

Amherst and Pulaski had combined to score 879 points this season before Saturday's game. Parrish was not surprised it was a defensive battle.

"Defense wins games anyway," Parrish said. "That was our mindset, to win on defense. That's what we did. Pulaski was a real good team. They played a hard game with us. They're a great team, but we came out on top."

Amherst County 0 7 0 6 --13

Pulaski County 7 0 0 0 -- 7

PC -- Dobbins 7 run (Songer kick)

AC -- A.Rose 3 run (Dawson kick)

AC -- A.Rose 1 run (pass failed)

AC PC

First downs 11 10

Yards rushing 42-110 42-153

Passes C-A-I 4-6-1 2-7-1

Yards passing 105 21

Penalties-yards 4-34 2-20

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1

Punts-average 4-38 5-32

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Amherst County, Vaughan 9-37, A.Rose 16-35, D.Brown 4-16, Jamar Glover 5-14, T.Brown 2-4, Jamal Glover 2-3, Duff 1-2, Parrish 2-1, Team 1-(-2). Pulaski County, N.Peak 16-91, Dobbins 12-44, Parris 7-20, Watson 4-1, Martin 3-(-3).

PASSING -- Amherst County, A.Rose 4-5-0-105, Anderson 0-1-1-0. Pulaski County, Watson 2-7-1.

RECEIVING -- Amherst County, Grubbs 2-66, Vaughan 2-39. Pulaski County, Martin 1-13, Calfee 1-8.