HARLAN, Iowa — Sioux City Heelan quarterback Zach McCabe riddled the Harlan Community defense, but his counterpart always seemed to have the answer.

Harlan quarterback Michael Kaufmann made multiple clutch plays on third and fourth down, and the Cyclones withstood a remarkable 29-of-35, 389-yard passing performance from McCabe in a thrilling 21-14 Class 3-A state quarterfinal football victory Friday at Merrill Field.

“We had him in third and long so many times I can’t even imagine it,’’ Harlan coach Curt Bladt said of his senior signal-caller. “And we’d (still) come out with a first down.’’

State No. 1 Harlan (12-0) is into the state semifinals for the 25th time in all, and the 23rd time in the past 29 years. State No. 6 Heelan (10-2), the defending 3-A champion, was seeking to become the first team to beat the Cyclones three times in the postseason — all in the past three seasons.

Safety Luke Musich’s interception in the end zone with 38 seconds left in the game preserved Harlan’s victory.

“The sun’s going to come up tomorrow, but this one’s going to be a tough one to get over,’’ Heelan coach Roger Jansen said.

Harlan will play No. 3 Carroll High (12-0) in a 3-A semifinal at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Tigers knocked off No. 2 Clear Lake 21-14 to advance to the UNI-Dome for the first time in school history.

In front of a crowd estimated at 3,400 by a Harlan official, Heelan had many chances to give up. The Crusaders went down 21-7 when Harlan’s Brian Kloewer returned the second-half kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. Heelan then drove quickly down field, but McCabe fumbled on the 1 trying to stretch the ball over the goal line, and Luke Lansman recovered for western Iowa No. 1 Harlan.

“I swear I had it stretched over,’’ McCabe said. “I thought I was over the goal line, but that call just didn’t go our way.’’

Still down 21-7 late, western Iowa No. 2 Heelan stormed back. Nate Berger took a swing pass and raced 42 yards to pull the Crusaders within 21-14 with 5:53 remaining in the game.

Kaufmann completed a third-and-4 pass to Joey Buman for 10 yards, and a third-and-3 pass to Iowa recruit Matt Hoch for 23 to keep the ball out of the Crusaders’ hands. On fourth-and-1 at the Heelan 19, however, Dylan Barrett was stopped for no gain, giving Heelan the ball back with 1:22 to play and needing to drive 81 yards with no timeouts.

The 6-foot-7 McCabe, an Iowa basketball recruit, quickly went to work. He hit Brady Van Dusen for 23 yards and then found Nick Berger for 33 more to the Harlan 25 with just under a minute remaining.

Nick Berger, eight seconds younger than twin brother Nate Berger, turned in an incredible game at receiver. Nick Berger caught 16 passes for 246 yards. Nate caught six for 79 more, giving the twins 22 catches for 325 yards.

McCabe hit Nate Berger for 8 yards to the Harlan 17. But on second and 2, McCabe launched one into the end zone that was picked off fairly easily with 38 seconds left by Musich, who was playing center field.

“I just thought, ‘I’ve got to get there and make the play and save the team,’’’ Musich said.

Said McCabe: “I thought (my receiver) was going to go more inside, and he kind of went outside. He just made a good play on it.’’

Down 7-0, Harlan seized the momentum late in the second quarter.

Kaufmann led the Cyclones on a 10-play, 80-yard drive to tie things at 7-7. On that drive, Kaufmann had a 17-yard run, and scrambled before hitting Lansman for a 23-yard gain to the Heelan 5 on a fourth-and-4 play.

On the next play, Kaufmann found Adam Cave in the corner after a play-action fake for a 5-yard touchdown pass, evening things at 7-all with 2:10 left before intermission.

Preston Ives fumbled the ensuing kickoff for Heelan, and Anthony Hough recovered for the Cyclones at the Heelan 26 with 2:03 remaining.

On third and 10 at the 14, Heelan was called for pass interference, giving the Cyclones a first down inside the 10. Kaufmann gave Harlan a 14-7 lead at the half, fighting past two defenders for a 5-yard TD run with 20.9 seconds left.

Then Kloewer opened the second half with his 99-yard kickoff return. He faked a reverse, found a seam, beat the kicker at midfield and raced down the right sideline.

Heelan had returned five kickoffs for touchdowns this year, while Harlan had none.

“We hadn’t had one in about 20 years,’’ Bladt said. “That sure was a good one to start the second half.’’

The short time sandwiching the intermission made it an uphill battle for Heelan the rest of the way.

“I think the game was decided in about a three-minute stretch, the last two minutes of the second half, and then the (second-half) kickoff,’’ Jansen said. “A lot of teams would have said, ‘Well, it’s done. It’s over with.’ Not these guys.’’

Harlan had won the regular-season meeting between the teams.

“We’ve got a little rivalry going on now,’’ Bladt said. “Back and forth, pretty tight ballgames each and every year. Nobody gives a quarter, nobody expects one. It’s a good brand of ball.”

SC Heelan (10-2)..............7 0 0 7—14

At Harlan (12-0)................0 14 7 0—21

Heelan: Nick Berger 66 pass from Zach McCabe (Zach Maxey kick)

Harlan: Adam Cave 5 pass from Michael Kaufmann (Trent Wendt kick)

Harlan: Kaufmann 5 run (Wendt kick)

Harlan: Brian Kloewer 99 kickoff return (Wendt kick)

Heelan: Nate Berger 14 pass from McCabe (Maxey kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Heelan, Michael Malloy 5-5, McCabe 6-(-28). Harlan, Dylan Barrett 23-67, Matt Hoch 14-64, Kaufmann 8-40.

PASSING: Heelan, McCabe 29-35-1, 389 yards, 2 TDs; Brady Van Dusen 1-14. Harlan, Kaufmann 5-12-1, 58 yards, 1 TD.

RECEIVING: Heelan, Nick Berger 16-246, Nate Berger 6-79, Preston Ives 3-29, Van Dusen 1-23, McCabe 1-14, Derek Tigges 1-8, Malloy 2-4. Harlan, Luke Lansman 1-23, Hoch 2-20, Joey Buman 1-10, Cave 1-5.

Contact the writer:

444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com