As Wayne's Austin Mills fell on the onside kick in front of the Pioneer bench, every player on the 63-man roster, it seemed, leaped skyward in simultaneous jubilation.

It led to a quick touchdown and prompted Wayne coach Tom Harmon to roll the dice again and try another onside kick.

And when Wayne's Chase Perry recovered and the Pioneers scored again, they were on their way to a startling 27-21 comeback victory over the Frankfort Falcons in a Class AA semifinal Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field. A crowd of about 3,500 attended.

"You can't underestimate the role of emotion in a football game,'' Harmon said. "Once we got the emotion rolling in our favor, we kept it. Our kids dug down real deep.''

The No. 1 Pioneers (13-0), who won a state championship in 2006, will face No. 6 Bluefield (11-2) in the Class AA title game at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Wheeling. It will be Wayne's fourth championship-game appearance since 2000.

By overcoming a 21-0 halftime deficit, the Pioneers etched their names in Wayne County lore. They took the second-half kickoff, drove for a touchdown and then gambled on back-to-back onside kicks, recovering both and converting both into touchdowns.

The Pioneers had attempted just one onside kick all season, and that was just for practice, said Harmon. It was a matter of necessity this time.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures,'' he said.

The Pioneers knew what they were doing.

"We work on onside kicks every Thursday in practice,'' said Wayne quarterback Adam Frazier.

In taking total control, the Pioneers did not allow the No. 4 Falcons (11-2) to run a play from scrimmage or even field a kick in the entire third quarter. And on the opening play of the fourth, Wayne's Jake Barr, a 240-pound fullback, bulldozed his way for a 6-yard touchdown, and Allen Bryant added the PAT kick for a 21-21 tie.

The Pioneer defense then stopped the Falcons on a fourth-and-5 at midfield, giving the Pioneers possession at the Frankfort 49, and Frazier, keeping the ball on first down, broke free down the sidelines for a 49-yard TD run with 7:10 left in the game, giving the Pioneers their first lead of the game. The PAT kick, however, was wide.

A halftime pep talk seemed to help, said Frazier.  

"We were in the locker room talking to each other,'' said the senior quarterback. "We knew this was our seniors' last game on Pioneer Field, and we weren't ready to go home yet. We all pulled together and believed in ourselves.''

But the Pioneers still needed to shut down a Frankfort team that had scored almost at will in the first half. After Frazier's TD, the Falcons took the kickoff - it was a conventional one - and moved from their 42 to the Wayne 37 but turned the ball over on downs with 3:42 left. The Pioneers promptly picked up two first downs and killed the clock.

"This hurts so bad,'' said Frankfort coach Kevin Whiteman. "We were so close. When we were up 21-0, I thought we were in control of the game. We had some bad breaks in the second half. We really wanted to get to that title game bad, but it's unfortunate.''

In the first half, the Falcons had three possessions and scored three touchdowns - on drives of 73, 67 and 72 yards - and they amassed 213 first-half yards. In the second half, they picked up just 39 yards, including only four on the ground, and never advanced beyond the Wayne 37.

"We had a lot of faith in each other,'' said Harmon. "Even though we were down 21-0 to a very, very good football team, we knew we had to play close to perfect in the second half to get it done. And we darn sure came close to perfect.''

Said Whiteman, "Those onside kicks killed us. They were huge. They got the momentum going, and once they did that, it was hard to get anything back.''

Wayne's Corey Damron, who scored his team's second touchdown on a 1-yard run, carried 26 times for 124 yards, and Barr added 76 yards on 11 attempts. In addition to his 49-yard TD run, Frazier scored his team's first TD on a 1-yard run and completed 4-of-6 passes for 48 yards.

Frankfort quarterback James Jones hit 8-of-11 passes for 121 yards, and Daniel McCormick rushed for 47 yards on 11 carries, including a 3-yard TD run. Joey Luciw scored the Falcons' first touchdown on a 51-yard carry but finished with just 54 yards on five tries.