OMAHA — When Lincoln East quarterback Jim Ebke took off running on the last play of the game Friday, Andy Means said there was just one thing to do.

“I was preparing for the two-point play, to be honest,” the Millard South coach said. “I was thinking ahead. He’s such a great player and we knew if we gave them the ball with 50 seconds left, it was going to be a heart attack at the end.”

Ebke avoided the Millard South blitz, raced around the right side and headed for the end zone. But three Millard South players met him as he tried to leap over the top and he spun just short of the goal line and fumbled. Lincoln East recovered the loose ball, but it didn’t really matter, because East was out of time.

That last play preserved a 14-6 victory for top-ranked Millard South against the No. 7 Spartans at Buell Stadium in the Class A state playoff quarterfinals. Millard South (11-0) advances to the Nov. 11 semifinals and will meet Kearney.

“Our kids rose to the occasion. In the playoffs, you’re going to have games where you struggle and it’s going to come down to the wire,” Means said. “Hopefully, this just makes us better for next week.”

The Spartans (8-3) got their last chance when the defense forced Millard South to punt into the stiff south wind and East took over at the Patriots’ 29-yard line with 41.8 seconds left in the game.

Ebke, who passed for 216 yards and ran for another 109, completed passes to Justin Burns and Ravi Mahapatra, then scrambled for a first down at the 6.

After a spike to stop the clock with 14.9 seconds remaining, Ebke found Garek Petry for a 3-yard gain and East faced third down with nine seconds left.

“The whole last drive, we rolled out and they blitzed from the linebacker side, so it was filled there,” Ebke said. “I turned to go the other way and there was nothing. I got around one guy and there was open field. They stepped up in front of the goal line and the only way to get in was through them or over them. I tried to go over them and lost the ball. I think we could have got it if I had held onto the ball.

“I’ve never hurdled before this game. I usually just try to run people over. I figured they’d get low and try to take my legs out.”

The teams battled through a scoreless first half. Millard South came up short on a 35-yard field goal and had a 31-yard touchdown pass from Casey Hauptman to Kyle Wheeler called back because of a  penalty.

The Spartans opened the second half with a five-play, 80-yard drive. Ebke found Andrew Peterson for a 30-yard gain and hit Levi Lash with a 25-yard pass. On the next play, Ebke scrambled 24 yards to score.

Millard South took the lead when Wheeler bulled into the end zone from 5 yards out with 1:49 left in the third quarter.

The Patriots got a little breathing room when Hauptman lofted a 32-yard pass to sophomore Ty Kildow for a 14-6 lead with 7:35 left in the game.

“They were trying to stop Jim from running, so we had to go to the air a little bit to loosen things up,” said East coach John Gingery. “They were blitzing him all night long, he shook ’em and got close.

“We had a good defense all year and we just came up a little bit short tonight. We had a couple of miscues and they threw a floater and their kid caught it and that was the game.”

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 475-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.