With a little more than two minutes left in Saturday's game against the University of Charleston, Urbana appeared to be on its last legs.
Stuck on third-and-9 against a UC defense that appeared ready to finally shut the door to preserve a win, it looked like the Golden Eagles were about to get to Urbana quarterback Tajuan Green for a sack to force a punt.
But the junior evaded the rush, weaved his way through the defense on his way to a 58-yard touchdown run to put the Blue Knights in the lead for the first time since they led 7-0 early in the first quarter - propelling them to a 35-34 victory at UC Stadium.
"We were in a similar spot last week where we were the ones that gave in and made mistakes when we could have won the game," Urbana coach Tyler Haines said. "I'm proud to see the way they learned from that, kept fighting and never gave up in this one."
Charleston had one final chance to rally back and claim the victory, and had run an effective two-minute offense into field-goal range with close to a minute left in the game. But an Anthony Fontana screen pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Urbana's Josh Dillard to preserve the win for the Blue Knights.
"We played really bad down the stretch and gave up some big plays in huge situations," UC coach Pat Kirkland said. "We had so many chances to put it away and we just didn't do it."
It was a tough one to swallow for a UC team that dropped its third consecutive game. Offensively, the Golden Eagles (2-6) came out strong and did what they had hoped they could do.
Using the effective running of Marvin Elam and Vernard Roberts, Charleston was able to get back to its success on the ground while also getting a solid showing from Fontana and the passing game.
Overall, the Golden Eagles gained 463 yards of total offense, including 240 on the ground. Roberts and Elam both eclipsed the 100-yard mark, running for 137 and 103 yards, respectively. It was just the third time since 2014 that Charleston ran for more than 200 yards in a game and didn't leave with a victory.
"The offense did their job and put us in a position where we could win the game," Kirkland said. "They played well enough to win the game, but defensively we weren't there."
But for as good as the UC offense was, Urbana was able to consistently match it.
Green was the catalyst for much of what the Blue Knights did, throwing for 323 yards and running for another 88 while accouting for five touchdowns.
Two of those scores came in the fourth quarter, one on Green's deciding touchdown run and another on a 68-yard touchdown pass to Cam Snow - their second scoring connection of the game.
"Tajuan is a talented kid and he's been a little banged up but he's back now and he showed today what he can do when he's healthy," Haines said. "I'm excited to see him continue to build on this."
Charleston allowed nine pass plays that went for 15 or more yards, and two of those went for touchdowns as the Golden Eagles struggled to keep Urbana off the scoreboard and allowed the Blue Knights to hang in the game despite UC leading for a majority of the contest.
"We're not giving ourselves a chance when we play like that on the back end," Kirkland said. "We blew coverages, gave up big plays. You can't have that. We just didn't get it done."
Snow and Trevon Saunders both had more than 100 receiving yards for Urbana.
Joey Augustin caught seven passes for 92 yards and a touchdown to help lead the Charleston aerial attack. Fontana completed 21 of 34 passes for 223 yards.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.