EBEN — The Superior Central Cougars snuck ahead in the final minute Thursday night to defeat the Engadine Eagles 34-30 in Eben.

It was the Cougars’ first win in over a dozen games.

“It’s been a while since we had a win,” said Cougars coach Sam Eggleston. “Last year we were winless. Thirteen games we lost in a row, so breaking it was really important for us. It’s definitely a positive, and it brings a little bit of life into the program that we desperately needed.”

After Superior Central jumped to a 26-6 lead to end the first half, the lead evaporated through the third and fourth quarters until they trailed 30-26 with under 60 seconds remaining in the game.

As time continued to tick away, Cougars quarterback Zach Frusti — who scored all five of the Cougars touchdowns — found an opening to score and put the Cougars on top to win.

“We worked our way down (the field) and completed a couple passes for first downs,” said Eggleston. “We broke one open with Zach. We got him to the outside on our read option, and he made it in with around 20 seconds left.

“(Engadine) marched down and took the lead in the fourth. They got in and scored the two-point conversion. There was a scuffle, and it started getting chippy and my guys started getting fired up because of it.”

The read-option worked well early in the game, too, for the Cougars until the Eagles adjusted for it, said Eggleston.

“Our read-option was working really well in the first half. We’d just make things happen in the open field,” he said. “They adjusted, and it started working nice for them. It took a while to figure out how to counter them.”

Frusti collected 242 yards on 16 runs with 55 yards through the air on three completions.

Ben Molag led the defensive game for the Cougars with 11 tackles. Frusti also contributed on defense with 10 tackles while Lucas Swetich had eight.

The Superior Central Cougars play next on Sept. 11 with a home contest against the Gogebic Miners.