Staff photo / Joel Whetzel Chaney’s Jason Amill-Austin runs for a big gain against Alliance Friday nigth at Rayen Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — For much of the first half, 5-seed Chaney’s typically stout defense couldn’t manage a stop as 12-seed Alliance carved its way to a four-point halftime lead.

After the intermission, however, the Cowboys grounded the Aviators for a second-half shutout en route to a 35-21 victory in the opening round of the OHSAA Division III, Region 9 postseason.

The win was Chaney’s fifth straight and first postseason victory since 2003.

“A little bit scheme-wise, we had to move some guys around and get a little more speed going,” said Chaney head coach Seth Antram. “It’s Week 11, so guys are a little banged up, and we had to move guys around a little bit to compensate for some things. But we put guys in new positions, and they responded and played as a team.”

The adjustments clearly worked. After Alliance (8-3) quarterback Brendan Zurbrugg began the game 13-for-13 for 126 yards and three touchdowns, the Cowboys (10-1) forced an interception on his 14th attempt, which came just before halftime. DJ Waller came up with the pick.

Chaney parlayed that into a critical touchdown, as Jawan Freeman ran in the first of his two touchdowns to draw the Cowboys to within 21-17 headed into the break.

“That was big momentum,” said Chaney linebacker and receiver Jason Hewlett. “We knew we needed something. He just came up with a play, and he’s a great player. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with, and he just gave us what we needed to get back in the game.”

From there, the Cowboy defense dominated.

Alliance mustered only a handful of first downs in the second half, most of which came on their final drive, which ultimately resulted in a turnover on downs. Meanwhile, Zurbrugg went just 8-for-18 after halftime, and Alliance never found the end zone again. He finished 21-for-32 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, while the Aviator ground game managed 75 yards on 26 attempts.

In all, Alliance had four 3-and-outs, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs after the intermission.

The biggest stop came after a fumbled snap deep in Cowboy territory. Alliance recovered at the Chaney 27, but the Cowboys allowed just one first down before forcing a field goal attempt, which was off the mark.

“We were just too excited in the first half and overplaying everything. We just had to calm down and get in our game,” Hewlett said.

And with Matt Jones under center in the second half after sitting for the first, the Cowboy ground game churned out three touchdown drives to retake the lead and then put the game away.

Jones struck for two touchdowns, a 1-yard run and 7-yard run, and Freeman added the exclamation point with 1:34 to play with a 1-yard run on third and goal to put Chaney up 35-21.

Jones finished with 50 yards on 12 carries, while Jason Amill-Austin ran nine times for 62 yards. Freeman had 28 yards on eight carries.

The Cowboys also found success on deep passes. Hewlett hauled in a 50-yard touchdown from Drew Gault in the first half, and Darius Stonework had two receptions for 77 yards. Waller added two catches for 83 yards.

In addition, on Chaney’s penultimate drive, the Cowboys picked up two defensive pass interference calls against Alliance and an unsportsmanlike conduct in consecutive plays.

Gault had 108 yards and a touchdown.

“Drew did a great job,” Antram said. He added of the deep passes, “We knew we had height out there, and we saw some things in their coverage that we were looking at. We have two big receivers that we have to take our shots with.”

Penalties plagued both teams throughout the night, as the Aviators were hit with 12 penalties for 105 yards and Chaney had 13 penalties for 100 yards.

The Cowboys will host 13-seed Kenston (8-3) next week after the Bombers upset 4-seed University School, 40-33.

“It feels good,” Hewlett said of getting another home game in Youngstown. “But we know (Kenston) just upset University, so we can’t take them lightly. We just have to play our game and be ready to play.”