SHERRARD, Ill. - In the waning minutes of Saturday's game, it was the Sterling Newman players who had to talk some sense into coach Mike Papoccia.

Livid about a pass-interference call, Papoccia's boys reassured him that their defense would stand up.

Sure enough, the Comets made a stand inside their 10-yard line with 5 minutes to play and conceded nothing in what amounted to a 9-6 win against Sherrard in the first round of the Class 3A football playoffs.

Newman advances to host Oregon, which upset Rockford Christian.

Papoccia turned red in the face after an offensive pass-inference call wasn't made when Sherrard's Colby Bjustrom caught a first-down pass from Logan Frye.

"I guess I'm getting too old for this," Papoccia said. "The kids calmed me down and said, 'Coach, we got this.' I shouldn't have doubted them."

No. 6 Newman (7-3) totaled 92 yards of offense, but the Comets forced four turnovers and stripped the third-seeded Tigers (8-2) of any running game.

Sherrard averaged more than 300 rushing yards coming in, but the offense totaled 62 on 27 carries.

The Tigers fumbled three times, giving up two. No miscue hurt more than Newman's Joe Blessman scooping up a drop as soon as Sherrard reached the red zone.

Blessman returned the ball 69 yards to the Sherrard 12-yard line, and Tim Wilson ran it into the end zone three plays later.

Toward the end of the third quarter, it again was Blessman coming through for the Comets. He rocketed a 20-yard line drive through the uprights for the deciding score, on the day he turned 17 no less.

"I think that was a birthday present to myself," he said. "I thought it was going to hit the crossbar. It got about a foot over it, so pretty lucky."

Newman also twice intercepted Sherrard quarterback Frye, who was forced to throw far more than normal. Frye finished 14-of-25 for 265 yards, nearly half his season total of 608 entering Saturday.

The Comets notched seven first downs in the face of a Sherrard defense that stymied teams all season.

"It wasn't even 'for the most part' " Tigers coach Jason Kirby said. "We stopped their run.

"First downs in this game were like touchdowns in other games."

And that's exactly what Sherrard couldn't get late, with four plays coming up empty in the final minute.

Sherrard's lone score came on a 2-yard run by Nate Breiby.