Jefferson was the fourth-ranked team in the state’s Class AAA ranks. Fairmont Senior was unbeaten and the top-ranked team in the Class AA ranks.

When last Friday’s game was finished, the Cougars had a 20-19 win over the host Polar Bears and had moved ahead to No. 3 in the state when defending state champion Capital lost for a second time.

The Cougars survived a three-touchdown performance by Polar Bear wide receiver Nick Davisson and their own stumbling start that had them trailing, 13-0, after one quarter.

But once the Polar Bears started turning the ball over — Fairmont Senior lost five turnovers — the Cougars began their spirited comeback that had them in front, 14-13, by halftime.

Isaac Myers, who ran for 116 yards and scored twice, got Jefferson moving with his five-yard scoring run. Then Myers threw six yards to Tyler Stehr for a score before the half ended.

Marcus Burns, who accounted for 112 ground yards, and Myers made it difficult for Fairmont Senior to get its defense off the field in the last three quarters.

There was no scoring in the third quarter, but the Cougars expanded their narrow lead to 20-13 in the last period when Myers pushed across from a yard out.

The potent Polar Bears used a 50-yard Dom Smith pass completion to get in position for Davisson’s third TD reception of the game, a nine-yarder from Smith. But the Polar Bears missed a second extra point try and still trailed by a point.

After forcing a Jefferson punt with just over three minutes remaining, the Polar Bears were in Jefferson territory when Smith couldn’t handle a bad snap . . . and the Cougars recovered with just 1:04 showing on the fading clock.

Smith was 17-for-28 for 265 yards through the air and Davisson had six catches for 101 yards and his three scores.

Christian Johnson had five catches for 49 yards for the Cougars, who advanced their record to 6-1 and have an important date in Martinsburg against the state-ranked Bulldogs this week. Martinsburg is 5-2 overall.

Jefferson had shed the gloom of a 13-0 deficit to fully recover and stun an unbeaten team on its home grounds.

And it had accomplished the comeback victory with a newly established ground attack that kept the Polar Bears on defense for much of the night.