PONCA, Neb. -- This magical 2009 Ponca High School football season marches on.

But only by a few inches.

Austin Hansen stopped Elmwood-Murdock quarterback Zach Zobel inches short on a two-point conversion attempt with just over two minutes remaining here Tuesday night, preserving a 20-19 Nebraska Class C2 quarterfinal playoff victory.

The second-ranked Indians, now 11-0, advanced to their first-ever semifinal, hosting unbeaten and third-ranked David City Aquinas (11-0) next Tuesday. Aquinas defeated Humboldt-Table Rock Steinauer 39-17 in another quarterfinal on Tuesday.

Elmwood-Murdock's Zobel zipped a 20-yard touchdown pass to Matt Rorie with 2:04 left in the game and instead of attempting to tie, the Knights went for the go-ahead points. Hansen, a senior linebacker, foiled the try with a hard tackle some six inches shy of the goal line.

"I read it, closed on him and hit him and I stopped him," said Hansen, who also shuttles in the offensive plays for the Indians. "Coach warned us before the play it was probably a play action pass, so I saw him coming."

"I've always been told that you go for the win on the road rather than a tie," said Elmwood-Murdock Coach Leigh Schmale. "I'm so proud of my guys. They came back three times, but it just didn't work out. We missed by inches. We have four two-point plays and I think we had the right one called."

Ironically, Elmwood-Murdock survived in a similar situation last week when Fremont Bergan scored late in the game and the Knights stopped them on a two-point conversion try, prevailing 14-13 in a second-round playoff game.

Jared Curry rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns for Ponca, but had to work for each and every one of those yards in what turned into a defensive slugfest. Curry had short touchdown plunges of one, two and five yards, setting up his second touchdown with a 47-yard scamper. He also had a 55-yard scoring jaunt nullified by a holding penalty.

Curry, a 180-pound senior, ran his season rushing total to 1,741 yards and 37 touchdowns.

"It was a great football game," said Ponca Coach Joe Kvidera. "We knew coming in that Elmwood-Murdock was going to be an outstanding football team and physical team. That was one of the toughest games we've played all year, no doubt about it.

"Hansen's hit was a game-saver and a season-saver. He's been a great player for a long time and he came up really big there.

"We knew they were going to try and take our running game away and they were pretty successful at that, so we've got some things to polish up. One more time in the friendly confines of Ponca, which is definitely a plus for us. We knew early in the season if we could run the table we could set ourselves up for that and hopefully the Good Lord is on our side this week again."

Unranked Elmwood-Murdock, which fought back on three different occasions, closed its season with an 8-3 record. The Knights tied it at 13-13 with 38.6 seconds left in the third quarter on a five-yard run by Nathan Hohman.

After Curry's five-yard touchdown run with 9:14 remaining in the game, Elmwood-Murdock once again rallied, moving 37 yards in just six plays after a short punt. After the missed conversion, all the Indians had to do was recover an onside kick and kill off the final two minutes.

Ponca's Nolan Block had two key receptions for 95 yards while Josh Watchorn recorded 13 tackles and Matt Dohma three quarterback sacks.