After a scoreless first half last night, the odds of Butler High and Beaver Falls playing to a tie in their titanic struggle were certainly subject to scrutiny.

To some members of the coaching fraternity, and the grid buffs who make a practice of following titanic struggles, a tie game is “like kissing your sister.”

But there wasn’t anything sisterly about the second half of last night at Reeves Stadium where the Golden Tornado collected a hard-earned 14-12 victory that went down to the wire and left some 10,000 fans limp, hoarse and completely exhausted.

The defeat eliminated Beaver Falls from the WPIAL Double A title picture and created a traffic jam in the Midwestern Athletic Conference where the champion race stands wide open.

The excitement started just a few seconds after intermission and continued until the very final play with Beaver Falls knocking on Butler’s door and trying desperately to erase the two-point difference.

It continued later in the Tornado dressing room where members enjoyed the fruits of success.

A smiling Art Bernardi observed, “we accomplished what had been planned, stopped their running game and forced them into the air. And how about that touchdown pass to Frank Hilovsky, coach Uram introduced it this week just for this game. It worked perfectly and at the right time.”

Uram shrugged off the remark modestly and later pointed a finger toward his heart and said, “the boys really wanted to win tonight, and what it takes, heart.”

This article ran in October, 1969.