We local scribes have taken some heat in recent years by our steadfast refusal to let go of the old “Manheim Magic” cliche whenever Manheim Central pulls off another one of its famous Houdini acts to win a close game. And I can see the point; the phrase first started showing up in newsprint 20 years ago, when the Barons beat Elizabethtown by identical 15-14 scores in consecutive weeks — first to claim the L-L League Section Two crown, and again in the District 3 Class AAA title game.

Since then, according to the Lancaster Newspapers library, the phrase has been used 167 other times. So I’ll be the first to admit it’s gotten a lot of mileage (for the record, the LNP library puts my personal “Manheim Magic” tally at three. I think it may have missed a few.)

But if you don’t use the term “magical” to describe the way Central somehow wriggled its way out of Cocalico’s death grip to post a 17-14 victory earlier tonight, what other term would you use?

Because the Eagles had Central dead to rights. They shut down Central’s ground game, harassed quarterback Justin Gorman, kept Dakota Royer off the offensive stat sheet and moved the ball well against the Baron defense.

And yet, as they so often do, the Barons found a way to prevail.

It was a narrow escape, though. Cocalico appeared to have the game in hand when quarterback Matt Carty (who played a phenomenal game) called his own number on an option play midway through the fourth quarter.

Faking a pitch to running back Austin Hartman, Carty kept the ball, cut upfield and found an open lane down the sideline, stiff-arming a Central defender out of his way. His path appeared clear for a 48-yard TD run that would have put the Eagles up two scores with just over seven minutes left. It would have been Carty’s third touchdown of the night, and it likely would have clinched the victory.

But Carty was hit by one last defender — the Barons’ Dan Trafford, hustling to catch up to him — at the Central 3-yard line, mere steps from the end zone. The ball popped loose and bounced all the way through the end zone, across the back line. By rule, the officials called it a touchback and gave the ball to the Barons, who rallied to tie the game at 14.

Sure enough, the dreaded “M-M” phrase begin circulating around the pressbox. But we hadn’t seen anything yet.

As the minutes wound off the clock, it appeared the game was headed for overtime, especially when a shotgun snap eluded Central QB Justin Gorman with the Barons driving in Cocalico territory with under a minute left. Gorman fell on the ball at the Cocalico 37, and Central was forced to spend its last time out with 44 ticks on the clock. The Barons faced a third-and-23 from there.

When Gorman hit Derek Hart for a 15-yard gain in the middle of the field, overtime seemed certain. Because the Barons couldn’t spike the ball to stop the clock — it was fourth down. And surely they couldn’t get their field goal unit lined up in time. Even if they did, the kick would be a 40-yarder — almost certainly too far for any high-school kicker to make.

Wrong. And wrong.

With the clock at 17 seconds and counting, the Barons coolly rushed their field goal unit onto the field. Kicker Taylor Groff calmly lined up and blasted a kick that split the uprights — and would’ve been good from about five yards further back.

Magical.

There. I said it.

It was an incredible football game filled with more twists than an Auntie Anne’s factory tour — and one that Cocalico certainly could have (should have?) won. The Eagles have nothing to hang their heads about. They’re a very good team, probably a district title contender in their own right. And chances are they could run into the Barons again in November. Here’s hoping it develops that way — it would be one heck of a football game.

But would it top the one I just witnessed?

That would be some trick.