ORCHARD PARK — For much of the summer, Fredonia quarterback Shane Smith and running back Tyler Buckley tossed the football around, ran patterns and tried to learn the nuances of the Hillbillies’ spread offense.

“It was a new year and a new offense,” Smith said, “so we’ve just been trying to get our timing down.”

Practice made perfect on Western New York’s biggest stage.

Smith connected with Buckley on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds remaining to send the Hillbillies to a stunning, 12-10, victory over two-time defending state champion Southwestern in the Section VI Class C championship game at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Friday night.

OBSERVER File Photo by Scott Kindberg Fredonia quarterback Shane Smith scores Fredonia’s first touchdown during Friday night’s Section 6 Class C championship game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The win vaults Fredonia (9-1) into the Far West Regional against Section V’s Letchworth-Holley winner at noon next Saturday at All High Stadium in Buffalo.

Southwestern, which had beaten the Hillbillies, 27-20, a month ago, had its WNY-record 38-game winning streak snapped and finished 9-1, its first setback since the 2007 season.

“It means a lot,” Fredonia coach Bob Ball said, “because we have so much respect for that program, for their coaches and their kids. I can’t say enough good things about Southwestern over the years. To be able to come up and make plays to beat them, we feel very good about it.”

Maybe no one more so than Smith, who missed all of last season with an injury, but showed again that he is all the way back by engineering what Ball called a “championship drive.”

Taking possession at the Fredonia 15 with 5:44 remaining — Southwestern’s Jimmy Rauh had just booted a 28-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 10-6 lead — Smith drove the Hillbillies 85 yards in 13 plays. Highlighting the possession were a 28-yard run by senior Alex Ippolito (five carries, 86 yards) and Smith pass completions to junior Connor Farnham and Ippolito for 12 and 13 yards respectively, giving Fredonia a first down at the Trojans’ 7. Smith was sacked on the next play, pushing the ball back to the 10, setting the stage for the fantastic finish.

“I just had to show why I’m a captain,” said Smith, who completed 7-of-15 passes for 75 yards and rushed 19 times for 73 yards. “I had to take senior leadership and find a man and hit him.”

“We were running all seam patterns,” Ball explained, “and I told Shane, ‘You’ve been doing it all year. Be an athlete and make a play,’ and he did. Tyler Buckley made an awesome catch. It was just great athletes making plays.”

The point-after try was no good, but it didn’t matter as Southwestern didn’t gain a yard on four pass attempts, setting off a wild celebration by the Hillbillies.

“If we put in this kind of effort, we feel we can beat anybody,” Ball said. “It’s going to take another effort like this from now on. … We’ll just take it one week at a time, enjoy the ride and see where it ends up.”

It appeared — for a short time anyway — that Southwestern would claim its 39th straight win and its second in a month against Fredonia. After trailing 6-0 following Smith’s 9-yard touchdown keeper just past the midway point of the third quarter — the Trojans took the subsequent kickoff and marched 65 yards in 11 plays, capped by Rauh’s 6- yard TD pass on fourth down at the 11-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Rauh’s extra-point try was good, giving Southwestern the one-point lead.

The Hillbillies couldn’t manage a first down on their next possession and Southwestern took over at its own 45. A 15-yard run by senior John Mistretta and a 15-yard Rauh-to-Nick Austin pass gave the Trojans a first down at the Fredonia 11. But a false-start penalty pushed them back to the 16 and Coach Jay Sirianni had to settle for Rauh’s 28-yard field goal.

The failure to punch in a touchdown proved costly for Southwestern.

“I think the big thing tonight was missed opportunities,” Sirianni said. “We missed some opportunities early in the game and we missed opportunities on their scoring drives. Those things come back to bite you.”

Rauh completed 13-of- 27 passes for 120 yards and Mistretta, who re-aggravated a hamstring injury in the second half, finished with 65 yards on 13 carries to move into second place on the school’s all-time rushing list. But the Trojans weren’t able to consistently make the big play they had for most of the last three seasons.

”I tried to tell these kids they were part of something that no other team in Western New York history has ever done. … We lost a football game. It’s bound to happen,” Sirianni said. “You don’t want to end your season at Ralph Wilson Stadium with a loss, in a sectional championship game, but there’s a lot worse way to end your season.

“We played to the end, Our kids left it on the field and Fredonia made the plays they had to make to win that game. That’s the way a championship game should be.”

Then Sirianni offered this:

“I just think of what somebody at school has in her office,” he said. ”It says, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’ I think that’s fitting.”

In northern Chautauqua County, though, the Hillbillies can keep smiling, at least for another week.

”We’ll see how long we can keep it going,” Smith said.

NOTES: Smith also had a fine defensive game, collecting 11 tackles. Buckley added seven and Greg Burroughs added six. … Pat Langworthy led Southwestern with 10 tackles, Peter Trathen had eight and Alex McCandless had six. … Jake Swan intercepted a pass for the Trojans.

Fredonia 0 0 6 6 — 12

Southwestern 0 0 0 10 — 10

Fre–Smith 9 run (kick failed)

Sou–Austin 6 pass from Rauh (Rauh kick)

Sou–Rauh 28 FG

Fre–TBuckley 10 pass from Smith (kick failed)