RUSSIAVILLE — Lewis Cass quarterback/safety Damon Foreman suffered a shoulder injury in Week 4 that kept him out of the offensive lineup for the next three weeks.

He made up for lost time Friday night.

Foreman scored the game-winning touchdown with 17 seconds remaining to lift Cass past Western 34-27 in a thrilling battle for a share of the Mid-Indiana Conference championship. Foreman’s 3-yard sneak erased a 27-26 deficit.

“I thank God I got to come back and play,” Foreman said. “I was scared I wasn’t going to get finish out my senior year. Andrew Troutman did a great job stepping in [at QB] — he saved the season for us and led us here to play for the MIC championship.”

Foreman turned in a superb offensive performance. He completed 11 of 15 pass attempts for 195 yards and two touchdowns and he gained another 102 yards on 13 carries. He was just as active on defense where he had 10 tackles, one tackle for loss and a game-ending interception.

“I think Damon Foreman was the best player on the field [Friday] night,” Cass coach Scott Mannering said. “He sort of improvised a few times, but he’s a playmaker and he made things happen. He gets the pick down there to end the game — you can’t say enough about him.”

The game featured five lead changes — including three in the final quarter. When told the game ranked as one of the best Cass-Western games in recent memory, Mannering put it even higher.

“It’s the best,” said Mannering, whose involvement in the rivalry series goes back to 1986.

“With about three minutes to go, I thought this was the worst,” he added.

Western quarterback Mike Jakubowicz had a 25-yard TD run at 3:14 to give the Panthers the lead. Western faced fourth-and-two when Jakubowicz faked a handoff to fullback Jake Askren, then went untouched around the left end as the Kings’ defense completely collapsed on Askren.

Following the kickoff, Cass began the game-winning drive at its own 24-yard line with 3:07 remaining. The Kings quickly faced fourth-and-four from the 30, but a pass interference call gave the Kings a first down. From there, Foreman took over. He picked up three yards on a run, then completed three straight passes — 26 yards to Caleb Comoglio, 12 yards to Brody Edgerly and 8 yards to Comoglio, putting the Kings on the Western 7 with :36 remaining.

After Andrew Troutman gained four yards on two carries, Foreman scored the go-ahead TD.

“The last drive, I knew we were going to have to pass the ball. The middle had been open most of the game so I knew that was where it was going to have to be,” Foreman said. “Caleb Comoglio made a great catch on that drive.

“Brody and everybody made great catches [throughout the game], the line played outstanding — I had tons of time to throw. It was a tremendous team effort.”

Cass led 12-7 at halftime and 18-7 midway through the third quarter. Western seemed in trouble following a three-and-out, but the Kings coughed up a fumble on the next play from scrimmage and the Panthers seized the momentum. Askren scored on a 10-yard TD run at 4:03 of the third quarter, then ripped off a 60-yard TD run in the final minute of the quarter as the Panthers surged to a 20-18 lead.

Western had a costly mistake on Cass’ next drive, running into the punter on fourth and nine. On the next play, Foreman found Edgerly for a 37-yard gain down the sideline. Josh Knutson followed with a 3-yard TD run and he added a two-point conversion to give the Kings a 26-20 lead with 8:38 remaining.

The Panthers followed with an 11-play scoring drive to regain the lead at 3:14 — but they couldn’t hold on for the win.

Western coach Alix Engle lamented a stalled drive inside the Cass 10-yard line in the second quarter that ended in a missed field goal. He also noted other mistakes including the costly penalties in the fourth quarter.

“Any great game like this, it comes down to two or three plays whether it’s the first or second half,” Engle said. “If we had to do it all over again, we’d do everything the same, we’d just look at [changing] two or three plays.”

It was a familiar outcome for the Panthers. In three of the previous four seasons, the teams also clashed in Week 9 with MIC hardware on the line. Cass won each time.

“Hat’s off to Cass — man, they have a championship program. They know how to win and how to finish it off and they did so [Friday] night,” Engle said.

Askren finished with 190 yards on 23 carries. Jakubowicz had 111 yards on 18 attempts.

Knutson led Cass’ defense with a dozen tackles.

“It was a very physical game [between] hard-hitting teams,” Foreman said. “It was a great game.”