Even when all seemed lost for Poly on Saturday afternoon, quarterback Darrell Milburn found a way to make magic.

Appearing down for the count late in the fourth quarter against arch-rival City, the No. 5 Engineers twice stopped the Knights on critical fourth-down plays, then drove for a pair of touchdowns in the final 2:23, including Milburn's one-yard pass to fullback Priestly Shuler with 9 seconds left to pull out a 22-16 win before an announced 10,683 at M&T Bank Stadium.

“You've got to play until [the referee] lifts up that ball and blows the whistle, and that's what we did,” Milburn said.

“It was one of the most unbelievable [games] I've ever been in,” said Poly coach Roger Wrenn, who will retire at the end of this season after coaching football in Baltimore City for 40 years. “What a miraculous finish.”

The win was the fourth straight in the series for Poly (10-0), which increased its all-time series lead over City (5-4) to 62-55-6. Poly also became the first unbeaten Baltimore City champion since Dunbar in 2007.

With 5 minutes to play in this one, the Engineers' situation couldn't have looked more dire.

One play after stopping City quarterback Steffen Wilkens (game-high 203 yards rushing) on fourth down from the Engineers' 1, Poly lost a golden chance to tie the game when City cornerback Deion Petty stripped receiver Orville Keize at the Knights' 10 following a daring reverse pass by Jordan Garrison from his own endzone.

“I thought we still had time if we were judicious in using our timeouts,” Wrenn said.

After holding on defense, Poly put its hurry-up offense into motion. First, Milburn — who finished with 180 yards passing and 60 rushing — found Garrison (135 yards receiving) wide open for a 65-yard touchdown with 2:23 left. A botched handoff on the conversion kept City ahead, 16-14.

Then, after again stopping the Knights on fourth-and-short near midfield with under a minute left, Milburn found Garrison for a 34-yard pass down the left sideline. He followed that with a 13-yard scramble to the 4.

Two plays later from the 1, Milburn rolled left, stopped and passed to Shuler in the endzone with 9 seconds left.

“We've been practicing the two-minute drill all year … so when we get into that situation, we're composed,” Milburn said. “It was a designed play … where the fullback slips into the flat. He was wide open.”

After managing just 143 yards of offense over the first three quarters, Poly produced 195 in the fourth.

“They attacked our weakness,” City coach George Petrides said. “Our weakness all year has been people passing the ball against us. We stopped their counters and their keeps — their bread and butter — but when he went to the pass at the end, we're a little weak back there. The passing finally caught up to us.”

And despite putting up 446 yards in their spread offense, the Knights managed just one touchdown over the final 46:24.

“We did what we thought would work, but it didn't work the two times we needed it the most,” Petrides said, referring to his team's failure to convert on the late fourth downs.

Early, the Knights seemed intent on pulling off a big upset.

On the second play of the game, Wilkens cut through a hole on the right side and took off down the sideline, sprinting 63 yards before getting caught from behind at the 6 by Keize.

Two plays later, running back Shawn Thorpe darted through a hole on the left side for a seven-yard touchdown. When Wilkens found receiver Timothy Canady on the two-point conversion, City led 8-0 just 1:36 into the game.

Despite losing its opening possession on a fumble, Poly rallied to tie early in the second quarter. First, the Engineers moved into City territory on a 31-yard run by Milburn. Then, after converting a pair of third downs, they scored on Shuler's one-yard plunge. Milburn's conversion pass to Jamal Chappell evened the game at 8-8.

City took control late in the third by riding the legs of Wilkens, who had six carries as part of an 86-yard drive that ended with his one-yard touchdown plunge over the left side.

Still, Wrenn said he never lost faith in his team, which will begin play next weekend in the Class 4A North Regional.

“I retired last spring, but I came back to coach this team,” Wrenn said. “I said, ‘I'm coming back because you guys have a chance to do something really special,' and they did.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that City in 2006 was the last unbeaten Baltimore City football championship. Dunbar in 2007 was actually the most recent undefeated Baltimore City football champion. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.

No. 5 Poly 22, City 16

City     8          0          8          0 -- 16

Poly     0          8          0        14 -- 22

 
C-Thorpe 8 run (Wilkens pass to Canady)

P-Shuler 1 run (Milburn pass to Chappell)

C-Wilkens 1 run (Wilkens pass to Richburg)

P-Garrison 15 pass from Milburn (run failed)

P-Shuler 1 pass from Milburn (Milburn pass to Keize)