By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

KIOWA -- Things were going south for the Victoria prep football team. But a comeback and a goal-line stand for the Knights had them heading back north with a playoff victory.

Kiowa-South Barber scored 22 consecutive points in the third quarter to erase Victoria's halftime lead.

But, the Knights rallied to score the last 22 points and the defense made a goal-line stand to give Victoria a 38-36 win over South Barber in Saturday's Eight-Man, Division II Regional Championship.

Victoria (10-1) moves to Friday's sub-state championships against either Otis-Bison or Bushton-Quivira Heights, in Victoria.

"It's unbelievable," said Victoria junior Kameron Dinkel, who ran for two touchdowns.

Senior quarterback Garrett Dreiling's seven-yard TD pass to senior Brett Ottley tie the game at 36 with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter.

Dreiling then ran in the 2-point conversion to give the Knights their first lead since 16-14 at halftime.

South Barber (7-4) then marched down the field, using eight straight running plays to set up fourth-and-goal at the Victoria one-yard line, with 48 seconds remaining.

The Knights stuffed senior Cayde Sterling on a run up the middle to preserve the victory.

"Fourth and one, goal line with less than a minute -- something they will remember for the rest of their lives," Victoria coach Doug Oberle said.

South Barber took an 8-0 lead after the first quarter on a 2-yard run by sophomore Blake Wagenbach, and two-point conversion by junior Matthew McMurray. A 36-yard pass from Dreiling to Dinkel, set up Dinkel's score from a yard out to tie the game with 10:55 to play in the first half.

Chieftan junior quarterback Christian Johnston hit sophomore Luke Yearout with a 6-yard TD pass for a 14-6 lead.

The Knights answered, scoring on senior fullback Austin Roth's 4-yard run with 58 seconds left. Dreiling hit Ottley with the conversion pass for the 16-14 halftime lead.

But, things started going South for Victoria to start the second half.

South Barber got the ball first and marched 61 yards to score, capped by Sterling's six-yard TD run.

Victoria then had a fumble on the first play from scrimmage after the score and South Barber took a 30-16 lead on another TD by Sterling, this time from four yards out.

The Knights couldn't get a handle on the ensuing kickoff, and the Chieftans recovered the ball on the Victoria 24.

South Barber scored five plays later on Wagenbach's one-yard run to make it 36-16.

The Knights knew they could make a comeback.

"I felt the biggest thing, the guys didn't panic," Oberle said. "They believed they could to it."

Then Victoria started the comeback with Roth's one-yard TD late in the third quarter.

Dinkel scored on the second play of the fourth quarter to get Victoria within six.

The teams traded possessions before Victoria took the lead, marching 69 yards in 13 plays with Dreiling finding Ottley for the touchdown to make it 36-all. Dreiling then ran option left on the 2-point conversion and raced untouched into the end zone for the lead.

South Barber got the ball to the Victoria one-yard line but the Knights' defense stiffened when it was needed most.

"We bent a lot on defense," Oberle said. "But, at the end of the day, we made a huge stop."

Roth finished with 100 yards rushing on 20 carries. Dreiling connected on 7-of-16 pass attempts with one interception for 155 yards. Dinkel had three of those catches for 75 yards. Johnson finished 8-of-16 for 62 yards for the Chieftans. Sterling rushed for 95 yards on 21 touches.