Late in the third quarter, trailing Ypsilanti High School 6-0, Pioneer senior running back Drake Johnson took his first snap at quarterback in the shotgun formation and sprinted 40 yards, untouched, into the end zone.

After the Pioneer offense had struggled the entire game in the absence of injured starting quarterback Andy Creal, that one snap was all Pioneer coach Paul Test needed to see.

Johnson would take the snaps for the remainder of the game, scoring again on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter as Pioneer went on to a 14-6 win over the Phoenix.

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Johnson finished with 137 rushing yards on 23 carries and 189 all-purpose yards.

"At first, (playing quarterback) was a little shaky, but the blocks I was given, the support I was given by the rest of my team, it was encouraging,“ said Johnson while surrounded by the offensive line and the rest of Pioneer’s starters. He made sure every starter was behind him before answering any questions.

“I told them at halftime, I said step your blocking up, and the first thing they did was step their blocking up. First play, touchdown."

Test was soaked from the rain, and exhausted after getting his first win in his second stint as head coach at Pioneer (he last coached Pioneer in 1994). But he was satisfied with his team's ability to overcome adversity to get the win.

"We didn't have our starting quarterback, our starting center was sick, we had four or five guys get hurt during the game," Test said. "It wasn't easy, but who said it was going to be?"

Both teams put their faith in senior running backs in the first half, but with little results. Johnson carried the ball on 12 of Pioneer’s first 16 plays for 49 yards. Austin Sanders, meanwhile, rushed 11 times for 49 of Ypsilanti’s 89 first-half yards as the teams played to a scoreless tie.

It looked like Ypsilanti would be the first on the board early in the third quarter after Marc Miles returned a Pioneer fumble from midfield all the way down to the 5-yard line. After a Pioneer penalty, Ypsilanti had 1st-and-goal on the 3-yard line.

Ypsilanti went backwards on consecutive plays, however, and turned the ball over on downs on the 20.

Though the Phoenix would still get on the board first, with a Sanders run later in the quarter, Ypsilanti coach Jason Malloy pointed to the goal-line miscues as a major setback.

"We didn't execute on offense. It hurts us time and time again," Malloy said. "We don't have the greatest defense in the world, but our defense does give us an opportunity, throughout the game.

"When our offense can't execute it again changes the field position and puts us in a bad situation."

Sanders finished with 20 rushes for 136 yards.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.