He had suffered a possible concussion last week against Donegal and thus had not practiced all week.

But when Lancaster Catholic needed a big defensive stop in Friday night's L-L Section Three showdown with Lampeter-Strasburg at rain-streaked Rossmere Stadium, senior lineman Dave Anater stepped to the fore.

Lined up over right guard rather than his normal position over center, Anater slipped through the Pioneers' blocking scheme, trailed Nate Shank as the quarterback rolled to his left, then engulfed him in his 225-pound frame.

Coming with 1:25 left, the six-yard sack all but sealed the deal. Shank, who scored two touchdowns, fired a fourth down pass to Chad Frey on the next play, but it was batted down in the secondary by Tyler Purvis.

Crusader workhorse back Jordan Stewart then proceeded to pound out a crucial first down to clinch a 14-13 win.

"When Dave got that sack, I knew we had 'em," said Stewart, who ground out a game-high 128 yards on 27 carries. "All we had to do was milk the minutes."

Crusader QB Kyle Smith threw touchdown passes of 21 and 6 yards to Purvis and Ray Snyder, respectively. And Catholic's battered O-line — which saw left guard Andrew Foltz and right tackle Jamie Pashuck leave the game with injuries — still managed to front an offense that piled up 19 first downs and 304 yards.

Still, one of the widest postgame grins had to be worn by a guy whose health status was uncertain all week, a guy whose frustrations at being unable to practice fueled his fire Friday night.

"Everything happened so fast," Anater said of the sack. "I was trying to stay with the play, trying to get my hands up (to disrupt the pass). (Shank) pumped (the ball); I took 'em down."

And lifted Catholic up. The victory not only kept the Crusaders (2-0 L-L, 4-1 overall) tied with Elco atop Section Three, it also marked the sixth straight time L-S (1-1, 3-2) has fallen to its rival.

The Pioneers' last win over Catholic was a 35-17 final in 2003. The Crusaders have won every meeting since, but the scores — 21-17 in 2008, 26-24 in '07, 14-6 in '05 — sum up their close encounters.

Friday night was more of the same.

"I thought we did a lot of good things," Pioneer coach John Manion said. "We were just one or two offensive plays away."

Indeed. A failed exchange from center to holder on the potential game-tying PAT with 11:52 to go left kicker Chris Garaffa being chased down by Trevor St. Clair and Theron Mitchell.

On the Pioneers' next series, Shank found Frey in the left flat on fourth-and-six, but Frey slid down on the slick turf inches shy of a first down.

"There were a couple of plays that could have gone either way," Crusader boss Bruce Harbach said. "It was a heckuva game, typical of this series."

A series that ended Friday, since L-S moves up to Section Two next season.

"We knew it was going to be a good game," Stewart said. "It's L-S."

And it was L-S that struck first. Shank, running and passing for a combined 192 yards, stunned the section's top-ranked defense by ripping off a 71-yard scoring run on the game's opening series.

Picked off twice in the first half and pressured throughout, Smith (12-22-144, 2 TDs, 2 Ints.) found Purvis for the game-tying score 48 seconds before the break. In the third, Smith hit Snyder for the eventual game-winner.

Shank's sprint from the 8 on fourth down on the first play of the fourth brought the Pioneers to within a point.

"Four straight, just like that," Manion said of the close losses to Catholic.

A hard loss for L-S. And a difficult win for Catholic.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Anater said. "And it was."