With his team down, 22-21, and 1 minute, 7 seconds remaining, North Catholic quarterback Anthony Reid engineered a seven-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown throw to tailback Eugene Byrd with 13 seconds to play.

Reid, a junior, completed 18 of 27 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception, and also rushed for a 1-yard score as North Catholic (7-5) won the 82d meeting between the two schools.

"If it's got to go out one way, this is one way," Bill Systma, North Catholic's wide receivers coach, said as he celebrated the go-ahead touchdown in the press booth.

North Catholic is scheduled to close at the end of the school year because of falling enrollment.

The cheers from both fan sections - the sea of red behind the Falcons' bench and the Frankford side - climbed to a crescendo on Reid's final touchdown.

Senior John McCarthy's extra point was true, and the Falcons' defense stayed firm on Frankford's final play from scrimmage.

"It was big," Byrd said of his winning touchdown reception of Reid's pass over the middle. "I was open on the previous four plays. I told the quarterback right before that final play, 'Throw me the ball.' "

Frankford (5-7) had won 12 of the previous 16 meetings, including the last two, but North Catholic improved its lead in the all-time series to 43-35-4 and 42-34-4 in the Thanksgiving series.

Byrd amassed 178 yards from scrimmage, carrying the ball 30 times for 146 yards and making four catches for 32 yards.

North Catholic was down, 14-7, with 8:19 remaining in the fourth quarter when Falcons backup sophomore tailback Taishan Tucker bulldozed for a 5-yard touchdown to close the score to 14-13. But Frankford stopped North Catholic's two-point conversion attempt after an offside penalty moved the ball to the 1, and the Pioneers maintained a one-point lead.

North Catholic's defense forced a three-and-out series, and the Falcons took a 21-14 lead with 2:28 to play on the ensuing drive after a 45-yard run by Byrd set up an 8-yard pass-and-catch touchdown from Reid to senior wideout Julian Huggins.

Frankford answered immediately when Pioneers senior running back Jeffione Thomas rattled off the afternoon's most electrifying play, a 55-yard cutback run for a touchdown with 1:11 to play.

Thomas was the most productive of five ball carriers for Frankford, with eight carries for 152 yards and the score.

But the Pioneers left too much time on the clock for Reid, who capped a stellar second half (13 for 19 for 187 yards and both touchdowns) with a memorable game-winning drive.

North Catholic's Byrd finished the season with 1,225 yards on 174 carries despite missing two early games with a sprained left ankle. Carrying the ball over the goal line for perhaps the program's final victory made for a sweet comeback.

"I told myself when I came back from the injury, I would come back big," Byrd said. "I wanted to be a playmaker in this game."

Frankford led, 14-0, at halftime after Pioneers senior Taron Mills returned three punts for 161 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown, and senior Tyrell Martin scored on a 16-yard touchdown run at the 9:17 mark of the second quarter.

But North Catholic controlled the ball for almost 10 minutes in the third quarter as Reid engineered a 16-play, 70-yard drive (4-for-4 passing, 45 yards) and scored on a 1-yard plunge to close the gap to 14-7.

"The kids didn't hang their heads at halftime," North Catholic coach Charlie Szydlik said. "We were confident about coming back."

This series started in 1928 with a 20-7 Frankford victory. The first Thanksgiving game was in 1930.

The bleachers at McCarthy Stadium hold 7,500 fans, so more than 1,000 spectators lined fences and mingled in the concourse next to the field.

North Catholic 0 0 7 21 - 28

Frankford 6 8 0 8 - 22

F: Taron Mills 68 kick return (kick fail)

F: Tyrell Martin 16 run (Martin run)

N: Anthony Reid 1 run (John McCarthy kick)

N: Taishan Tucker 5 run (run fail)

N: Julian Huggins 8 pass from Reid (Reid run)

F: Jeffione Thomas 55 run (Thomas run)

N: Byrd 20 pass from Reid (McCarthy kick)