Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Ursuline quarterback D.C. Ferrell (0) finds running ground in the first half of the Division III regional semifinal against Aurora Friday at North Canton Hoover.

CANTON — Entering the fourth quarter on Friday, Ursuline found itself in an unusual position.

The Irish trailed Aurora by a single point through three quarters. But from great opportunities come great moments in the playoffs, and Ursuline took advantage of the opportunity.

The Irish scored three consecutive unanswered field goals in the final quarter to defeat the Greenmen 29-10 and advance to the Division III regional final for the second straight season.

“We came up with a few things that we thought would help us, and our kids implemented them.” Ursuline head coach Dan Reardon said. “We had a few turnovers, but in the playoffs you have to overcome those. To have a few turnovers when our backs were against the wall and still find a way to win, all that showed a lot of heart. So I’m proud of that.”

A 50-yard touchdown pass from D.C. Ferrell to Devonte Taylor early in the fourth quarter helped the Irish take back the lead.

But a pivotal game-changing 12-play, 91-yard drive on Ursuline’s next possession proved the Irish’s championship mettle. That drive was capped by a 31-yard touchdown run by Joe Balog that gave Ursuline a two-possession lead with under six minutes remaining, effectively helping to put the game out of reach.

“This drive showed great courage and a ton of courage, everything football coaches hope to see in a football team.” said Reardon. “It was a championship caliber ride. If you can put together a drive like that when you know the season is on the line, all that said, there’s potential for the seniors to turn in the equipment on Monday if we don’t get a point there. It was huge. “At the end of the day, we’re moving forward and that’s our goal in the playoffs.”

The first half between the two teams was an ugly, error-filled affair.

Ursuline blocked an Aurora punt and Ray Javey returned (Green quarterback) Ryan Dwyer’s interception 80 yards. Each time the Irish found themselves in the red zone, but each time they scored zero points.

“Offensively, we were inside the 10-yard line a lot of times and couldn’t score. “This is uncharacteristic.” said Reardon. “You have to give (Aurora) credit there.”

Those two turnovers and several fourth-down conversions from Aurora’s offense put Ursuline’s defense in precarious positions. But they still found a way to keep the Green Men out of the scoring zone in the first half. Aurora ran 37 plays in the first half, while the Irish ran just 22 plays.

Ursuline may have given up 317 total yards for the game, but the Irish defense held the Greenmen to 10 points and forced three turnovers.

“Aside from the No. 1 game, we played really good defense this year.” said Reardon. “When we force someone to drive the field, I think our kids have a lot of confidence that at some point someone is going to make a play; We did this most of the time. We always tell our kids that if they get the first defeat, that’s okay, let them get three-out in the next series. … After all, it is complementary football. Our defense gave up 10 points and wasn’t perfect, but we defended well against a team that won a lot of games this year. “We showed some courage in the fourth quarter to seal the game and put it away.”

Ursuline took a 6-0 lead into halftime thanks to Javey’s 21-yard field goal from Ferrell and took the ball to begin the second half. The Irish entered the field again into the red zone, but Ferrell was ejected at the goal line.

Aurora then used that momentum to drive down and score a 5-yard touchdown pass from Dwyer to Ben Lukasik.

Jy’Quise Liason’s long kickoff return helped set up Anthony Tabak’s 20-yard field goal. But Aurora drove down and responded with a field goal of its own to retake the lead.

This set the stage for Ursuline’s fourth-quarter explosion.

Ferrell finished 12-for-21 for 147 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. On the ground, he added 125 rushing yards on 14 carries. He capped off the game with a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown in the final minutes to put the exclamation point on Ursuline’s victory.

The Irish will now face No. 2 seed Gates Mills Gilmour Academy in the regional final next week. The Lancers advanced with a 35-28 win over No. 3 seed Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy on Friday night.

“I don’t know who wins the other game, but whoever it is will be a good football team.” said Reardon. “It will be a team that expects to win and knows how to win. So will we, but we have to execute.”