RALEIGH - With 22 seconds remaining, Weslye Saunders and the Durham Riverside Pirates were not going to be denied. Saunders, stopped earlier on first-and-goal from the 4, knifed through the defense on second down for the game-winning touchdown and a 27-20 victory over host Leesville Road on Friday night in the third round of the 4-AA playoffs.

"First thing that went through my mind; I had to score," Saunders said of his goal-line effort.

It was Saunders' third touchdown of the game to lead the 11th-seeded Pirates to their first 4-AA Eastern Regional final.

"It feels great. Nobody expected us to be here," Saunders added.

The broad-shouldered senior, listed at a conservative 6 feet 5 and 270 pounds, had 133 yards of offense and played smash-mouth defense on the line to help lead the Pirates back from a 17-7, third-quarter deficit.

The game was everything a third-round, post-Thanksgiving Day playoff game should be.

Second-seeded Leesville jumped on the board first with a 26-yard field goal by Bayani Jones early in the second quarter.

Riverside responded with Isaiah Sims' 30-yard TD reception from James Lunsford on a fourth-and-16 play.

Leesville Road responded with Pete Mangum's 61-yard run to the Pirates 5-yard line that set up Thomas Wilson's TD pass to Taylor Gentry for a 10-7 lead going into the half.

Then the Pride opened the third quarter with a 15-play drive capped off by Jones' 1-yard leap into the end zone. Jones added the extra-point kick for a 17-7 lead.

"We went to halftime, our guys were dragging their heads a little bit," Riverside coach Tommy Blalock said, "When we came out, Leesville had a great go and I'm thinking, 'Oh, man.' "

However, Riverside responded to the Pride's long drive with one of its own -- capped off by Saunders' 1-yard TD plunge that cut the lead to 17-14.

Riverside looked to have turned things around until a punt glanced off a Pirates blocker and was recovered by Leesville. The Pride used the short field to add Jones' 27-yard field goal for a 20-14 lead.

Again, the Pirates turned to Saunders. The big man broke off a 70-yard touchdown run, shrugging off two tacklers who had caught him from behind at the 20-yard line. The Pride blocked Kevin Brese's extra-point attempt to leave the score tied 20-20.

Wilson and Mangum moved the Pride to the Pirates' 29-yard line, but the football slipped from Mangum's grasp on a run. The ball bounced around on top of a pile of players like a beach ball on a wave until it fell into the hands of the Pirates' A.J. Clayton with 4:12 left in the game.

It was enough time for the scrambling Lunsford to move the team down the field -- aided on a 31-yard pass play to Sims to the Leesville Road 4-yard line.

That set up Saunders' heroics and a December matchup with top-seeded Garner.