LEROY – Junior running back Kelston Fikes rushed for 229 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Leroy Bears to a 34-25 win over the Goshen Eagles Friday night in a AHSAA Class 2A matchup in Leroy.

With the win, eighth-ranked Leroy improves to 10-2 on the season and will advance to face Ariton, while Goshen ends their year at 8-4. Leroy continues its pursuit of another Class 2A title, having won the state championship five times since 2004.

The Eagles were the first to get on the scoreboard with a 6-0 lead, but Leroy scored the net 34 to go up 34-6, before the Eagles added three late touchdowns for the 34-25 final.

Goshen Head Coach Bart Snyder and his Eagles put up a great fight, and he was proud of the leadership of his senior class and another great year for Goshen High football.

“We did have a great season,” said Coach Snyder. “It is very special to score a touchdown with the clock running out, and that shows a lot of class and character of what our guys are capable of doing. We had great leadership on their part. It was not the way we wanted to end the year, and we felt like we had a good team. This was a very good Leroy team that had 13 seniors and 17 juniors, and that says a lot for what they are doing down here. But we are so proud of all of our guys from Goshen. They could have very easily gave up, but we had some miscues, and losing (Bryan) Galloway in the third quarter, that’s tough to do that. We are going to pray that he is going to be okay. He was talking to us when he left so we felt good about that.”

Galloway, a senior quarterback, was injured in the third quarter, was taken off the field by stretcher to an ambulance, where he was transported to a local hospital near Leroy. Coaches said Galloway was alert and talking upon leaving the field on the stretcher.

Goshen took a 6-0 lead with 0:10 seconds remaining in the first quarter on a 6 yard run up the middle by Galloway, and the extra point was no good.

The Bears went ahead of Goshen 7-6 as Fikes scored on an 18-yard carry, James Sullivan added the extra point, and Leroy led with 9:13 to go in the first half.

The Eagles were forced to punt on their next possession, the punt was blocked by Leroy, and Cameron Bettis scooped it up and raced 40 yards for a touchdown and a 14-6 Leroy lead with 7:37 to go in the first half.

The Bears went up 20-6 on a 69-yard drive when Fikes scored on a 20-yard jaunt, and the extra point was no good with 2:31 left in the second quarter.

Leroy quarterback Kade Moseley connected with Caleb Moore for a 27-yard TD pass play and a 26-6 lead before the half.

Moseley added a running touchdown of three yards in the third quarter and followed that with a two-point conversion for a 34-6 lead with 4:30 showing in the third.

Dakari Pelton of Goshen scored on a 2-yard touchdown carry in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, Niko Tempeis kicked and it was 34-13.

The Eagles scored another touchdown on a 10-yard run by RaQuan Martin to cut the lead to 34-19, and in the final seconds of the game Martin ran it in from 9-yards out for a touchdown and the 34-25 final.

Leroy will host Ariton next Friday night in the third round of the Class 2A state playoffs. Ariton was a 30-12 winner over LaFayette in a game played in Ariton.