Frontier quarterback True King (11) runs with the ball during Friday’s game against River. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

HANNIBAL, Ohio — It was hard to tell which meant more to the Frontier Cougars — a long-awaited win over arch-rival River or clinching a berth in the postseason.

The Cougars accomplished both with one big win Friday night as they traveled to River and came away with a hard-fought 7-6 win.

That win ended a 13-game losing streak to River and ensures the Cougars a berth in the postseason for the third time in the past four years.

A Cougar defense that had allowed 129 points over their last three games came up huge in leading them to their fourth victory of the season.

“I’m so proud of these guys tonight… Coach (Todd) Taylor had a great game plan and they executed it to perfection,” said Cougar head coach Damon Metheney. “To hold a Mike Flannery-coached team to six points is a major accomplishment for us and I think our pieces are all finally starting to click together.”

Frontier’s Davyn Ferrell (7) carries the ball during Friday’s game against River. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Frontier limited the Pilots to just 196 total yards of offense and came up with huge stops and turnovers when they needed them the most.

The Pilots scored what would be their only points on their second drive of the game.

River had to drive just 32-yards with 7-yard runs by Braden Johnson and Trey Larrick pushing the ball to the 7-yard line where quarterback Lucas Dennis finished with a 7-yard touchdown run to give them a 6-0 lead.

The Pilots missed the extra-point, a point that would prove critical in the outcome of the game.

The Cougars answered on their next possession as they put together a 76-yard, 14-play drive that chewed up nearly eight minutes of clock.

Frontier’s Avery Powell (1) goes up for a pass during Friday’s game against River. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

A big 29-yard pass play from quarterback True King to Davyn Ferrell moved the ball to the 8-yard line and a 2-yard run by Caleb Kirkpatrick moved it to the six.

King found a wide open Austyn Kephart in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown to knot the score at 6-6.

Ferrell’s point after kick was perfect, giving the Cougars the lead.

River got a 50-yard kickoff return by Dennis on their next possession to move the ball to the Cougar 35-yard line.

Peyton Blue shared the quarterback duties for River and his pass attempt into the end zone was picked off by Cougar defensive back Levi Hayes, who returned the ball all the way to the Frontier 43-yard line.

Frontier’s Austyn Kephart (20) takes the ball out of bounds after a catch during Friday’s game against River. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

The Frontier offense went right back to work as they moved the ball inside the Pilots’ 10-yard line with less than five minutes to play in the half.

The Pilot defense was able to come up big though as they forced King and the Cougar offense into three incomplete passes in a row to turn the ball back over on downs to the River offense.

The Pilots went three-and-out however and punted the ball back to the Cougars but again the Frontier offense turned the ball over on downs giving River one last opportunity to add points before the half.

River was able to get the ball inside the Cougar 10-yard line but were unable to score as Kirkpatrick knocked the ball away from Dennis on a potential touchdown pass to send the Cougars to the locker room with the one-point lead.

Both teams punted on their first possessions of the second half but the Cougars turned the ball over on their second possession as River recovered a fumble at the FHS 43-yard line.

It looked like the Pilots would capitalize on the miscue as they moved the ball all the way to the five-yard line but somehow the Cougar defense managed to strip the ball away from Dennis and recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.

After going three-and-out and punting the ball back to River the Cougar defense would hold once again as they forced the Pilots to turn the ball over on downs once again with 11 minutes to play in the game.

Frontier managed to put together its best drive of the second half when they moved the ball from their own 16-yard line all the way to the Pilot 28.

A key play on the drive was a 29-yard pass from King to Avery Powell on a third-and-25 after a Cougar penalty had them well behind the sticks.

“That was just one of those plays that the ball was designed to go to Avery (Powell),” said King. “He was able to come back to it a bit and made a great catch.”

Try as they may, the Cougars were unable to add to their lead as their drive stalled at the Pilot 28-yard line giving River the ball with plenty of time to get the ball into the end zone.

The Pilots picked up a pair of first downs to move the ball inside the Cougars territory.

After Blue scrambled for a 5-yard run the Pilot quarterback came up empty on three consecutive pass plays to once again turn the ball over on downs to the fired up Cougar defense.

Frontier needed to gain just one first down to put things away, but Kirkpatrick was tackled for a three-yard loss on their first play from scrimmage.

The Cougar back recovered on the next play to gain 11 yards to set up a third-and-two at the 49-yard line.

Frontier took a page out of the Philadelphia Eagles playbook as King took the snap and, with a little shove from his team, found a way to gain the 2 yards he needed to gain the dagger first down for the Cougars.

The Cougar defense allowed River to gain just 87 rushing yards in the game on 26 carries.

The longest River play from scrimmage in the game was 14 yards and they never once rushed for more than 9 yards.

“‘We had been preaching to the kids all week that as much as our season has been up and down we still find ourselves in a great spot,” said Metheney. “Hopefully this is just the beginning and gives these guys some confidence going into the playoffs.”

The win was the Cougars’ first over River since way back in 2009.

“We put a lot of work into our defense and we really showed up tonight,” said Kirkpatrick. “We were able to get some really big stops and force some turnovers when we needed to the most.”

The Cougars began the night ranked No. 14 in the Division VII, Region 27 standings and will no doubt move up with the big win over River.

“It took a total team effort to get this done tonight and it’s a huge win for us no doubt,” said King. “It’s no secret our defense hasn’t been the strongest but tonight we showed up.”

King finished the game 13-of-25 for 184 yards while Kirkpatrick gained 45 yards on the ground against a very stingy River defense.

Dennis ran the ball 13 times for 55 yards for River while Blue completed 10-of-19 pass attempts for 77 yards.

River slipped to 4-6 with the loss but are likely to remain in the top-16 after being ranked in the 11 spot prior to their season finale.