The red zone was the dead zone for Wayne.

The top-ranked Pioneers spent much of Friday night's Class AA championship game running plays inside Bluefield's 20-yard line, but frittered nearly all of those chances, some in spectacular fashion.

The No. 6 Beavers turned the tables with a pair of record-setting defensive touchdowns to capture an improbable 27-7 victory in front of an estimated crowd of 4,000 at Wheeling Island Stadium.

It marked the fourth state title for Bluefield since the Super Six moved to Wheeling in 1994, and was the Beavers' ninth appearance in the finals in that time.

Marcus Patterson returned an interception 97 yards for a TD in the third quarter and Brad Fox brought back a fumble 94 yards for a score in the final period to bail out the Beavers' moribund offense.

Bluefield managed just four first downs - none in the second half - and only 98 net yards for the entire game. It also failed to complete a pass and had two turnovers.

However, much of that was attributable to Wayne's offense, which was able to hog the ball with several time-consuming drives, especially following halftime. The Pioneers ran 48 plays in the second half to eight for Bluefield, which gained just 7 yards on those snaps.

"What makes this game so great,'' said Bluefield coach Fred Simon, "is that no matter how many years you've been in it, things happen you could never imagine. It happened like that tonight.

"What can I say? We had terrible field position, but Marcus and Brad made those plays and we found a way to score. I've never been part of anything like that in a state championship game, and we'll probably never be in one like that again. But I'm happy to be part of it now.''

The game was far from an offensive masterpiece for either team.

Wayne (13-1), the Cardinal Conference champion and the state's lone remaining unbeaten team in its class, hammered out 269 yards rushing, but offset that with five turnovers, a blocked field goal and countless missed opportunities.

Bluefield led 14-7 at the half, but all three TD drives came with assistance. The Beavers needed to move only 26 yards after a short punt and 13 yards after the Pioneers fumbled a punt return, and Wayne's only scoring drive covered just 5 yards after Justin Ruggles blocked a punt.

The Beavers got their first two scores on runs of 15 and 8 yards by Jake Lilly, and Wayne's TD came on a 3-yard run by Corey Damron (24 carries, 104 yards), who was selected his team's MVP in a media vote.

In all, Wayne had six red-zone possessions that went awry:

• The Pioneers took over at the Bluefield 18 following a Seth Merritt interception in the first quarter, but eventually Matt Riggs blocked Allen Bryant's 33-yard field goal try.

• In the second quarter, Wayne drove to a first down at the Beavers 20, but with time running out, quarterback Adam Frazier was sacked on fourth down.

• Wayne reached the 14 in the third quarter, but Patterson stepped in front of a floating pass intended for a wide-open Austin Mills and returned it 97 yards for a TD down the left sideline.

• The Pioneers picked up a first down at the Bluefield 14 on their next possession, but fumbled a handoff and the Beavers' Trey Williams knocked the ball into the hands of teammate R.J. Buford.

• In the fourth quarter, after Wayne notched a first down at the Beavers 20, Patterson again picked off a fourth-down pass, an alley-oop meant for Merritt at the 3.

• Finally, with just 1:50 left in the game and trailing 20-7, Wayne faced fourth-and-goal at the 5 with a last-ditch chance to get back in the game. Frazier found Mills with a pass in the left flat, but Fox plucked the ball out of Mills' hands at the 6 and scooted down the right sideline for a score. It was the game's only completed pass.

"They have some good athletes on defense,'' said Wayne coach Tom Harmon. "We were good enough to get the ball down in the red zone there, but we weren't good enough to push it on through. I think that's a testament to the kind of players they have, and they did a nice job.

"Also, it was a game of turnovers at inopportune times. The ball was popping out and that stuff happens sometimes. I couldn't be more proud of how our kids battled the entire game, and they thought they were going to win the entire game. What more can you ask of a bunch of kids when things aren't going their way, to play that way? That's the kind of kids we have at Wayne.''

Patterson, with the two interceptions and a forced fumble, was selected as Bluefield's MVP.

"I just read the quarterback's eyes really well,'' Patterson said of his first interception, "and I got the pick for six. That means our defense stepped up, and that's what we needed. We knew defense had to win the game. As a captain, I feel like whenever we need a big play, I feel I have to step up and the coaches want me to step up, and that's what I did for the team.''

Bluefield's last first down came at the 8:41 mark of the second quarter when Lilly scored on second-and-5 from the 8. However, its next four possessions started at its own 20, 22, 15 and 3.

"In defense of our offense,'' Simon said, "every time we got the ball, we were in such bad field position. Our offense never had the field position to do something in the second half. But our defense played great tonight and our special teams played well.''

The Beavers had 234 return yards, enhanced by the pair of long returns by Patterson and Fox.