MAN — The last time the Man High School football team made it to the state semifinals George H.W. Bush was the President of the United States.

In this year, the Berlin Wall came crumbling down and pro-USSR communist governments collapsed all across Eastern Europe.

Paula Abdul topped the charts with hits such as “Straight Up” and “Forever Your Girl.”

A gallon of gas cost 97 cents.

The Soviet Union pulled its troops out of Afghanistan as the Cold War began to cool.

The original “Batman” movie, starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton, was a big box office smash.

None of the current Man football players were even born yet.

The year was 1989.

That was the last year the Hillbillies made it as far as the Final Four round of the state playoffs.

Until now.

Man, the No. 2-ranked Class A team in the state, improved to 11-1 on the season and advanced to next weekend’s semifinals, with Friday night’s 37-26 victory over No. 7 Fayetteville at Man’s George A. Queen Memorial Field.

The Billies are just one win away from making it to the state championship game for the first time since the 1984 Tootie Carter-led Man team lost 14-10 to Grafton in the 2A state finals.

Man, which has homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, is scheduled to host No. 3 Richwood or No. 6 Wirt County next Friday or Saturday. Richwood and Wirt were slated to square off in quarterfinal action on Saturday night.

Man coach Harvey Arms said he’s thrilled to be just one win away from reaching the Class A state championship, which will be held Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at Wheeling Island Stadium.

“Overall, I think we played a real good ballgame. We made some mistakes but we played well enough to win it,” Arms said after the game. “We’re glad to be where we are it. It’s been a long time since Man has won two playoff games. It goes back to the 80s. We’re happy to be here and we’ll be working all next week to try to take it to Wheeling.”

Man is now 2-0 against Fayetteville this season. The Billies bested the Pirates 23-7 in the earlier meeting this season at Fayetteville.

“The two games pretty much paralleled each other,” Arms said. “It was close at the half but we had a real good third quarter and turned things up. Then in the fourth quarter they pepped up a little bit and made it a lot closer. Both games were similar. We would do something and they would do something. We made a mistake and they would make a mistake. It was a tough ballgame and a really good hitting ballgame. Both teams really went at it well and we were lucky to win it.”

Arms said Man’s defense played pretty well despite allowing the Pirates (9-3) to inch back late in the game.

The Billies led 30-7 with eight minutes to go in the game but yielded two late Fayetteville touchdowns as the Pirates closed to within 30-20. Man and Fayetteville then traded scores to finish the game.

“We’ve played them a lot of times,” Arms said of the Pirates. “We’ve watched the films and played them and have seen these plays many times. Our kids are used to it. I think our kids did an exceptional job on the screen passes tonight. In the past they have hurt us with their screen passes but our defense did a really good job against the screen.”

Man was led by senior quarterback Ryan Crum who scored three touchdowns on runs of 4, 30 and 1. Crum kept Fayetteville’s defense at bay with several roll outs where he had the option of throwing or tucking the ball and running. He had 15 carries for 130 yards for the game. Crum also was 2-of-4 passing for 21 yards.

“He did a great job. He controlled our team on the field,” Arms said of Crum. “He ran the ball really well and had a couple of passes that we needed. We added a little set this week that they hadn’t seen before and luckily it worked for us because we blocked well and he ran it well.”

Fayetteville coach Frank Spangler said his team had no answer for Crum.

“We just couldn’t stop him. He beat us,” he said.

The Billies were also led by tailback Brandon Plymale, who finished the game with 14 carries for 119 yards and one touchdown.

Andrew Hale added 13 carries for 78 yards for Man, which rolled up 350 yards on the ground as a team.

Man led Fayetteville 14-7 at the half and appeared to be headed for a blowout.

With 6:07 left in the third quarter, Crum ran for a 30-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-four play to make it 20-7 Man. Kicker Derrick Earnest’s 25-yard PAT sailed wide left after the ball was moved back five yards due to the penalty on the Billies.

Then on the third play of Man’s next drive Earnest picked off Fayetteville quarterback MichaelAngelo Hernandez and took it 45 yards to the house. It came back, however, as Man was flagged for a personal foul penalty.

Man retained possession at the Pirate 38-yard line but the Billies fumbled the ball away on the second play of the drive.

Man’s defense then held as Fayetteville gambled on a fourth-and-1 on its own 31-yard line and came up short as Hernandez was stopped for no gain.

It was a bad move.

The Billies took advantage of the mistake by the Pirates and marched 31 yards in four plays, capped off by Crum’s 1-yard TD plunge with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. Earnest blasted the extra point kick and Man led 27-7.

Man’s Jeremy Hatfield then recovered a Fayetteville fumble on the third play of the next Pirate drive to give the Billies the ball near midfield.

The Billies drove the ball to the Fayetteville 9-yard line but the drive stalled. Man called on strong-legged kicker Earnest, who booted a 26-yard field goal to make it 30-7 Man with 8:20 left in the quarter.

But instead of folding, the Pirates made it interesting.

With 6:06 left, Jacob O’Neal scored a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 30-13. Then with 3:49 left in the game, Hernandez connected with his brother Hunter Hernandez on a 52-yard touchdown pass to pull to within 30-20.

Plymale then gave Man some cushion with a 15-yard TD run with 1:17 to go to push the Billies’ lead to 37-20.

O’Neal put the Pirates into the end zone one more time with 11 seconds to go after scoring from 23 yards out. The PAT was blocked by Hatfield as Man held on to sink the Pirates, 37-26.

Man reached paydirt first as Cody Owens picked off Hernandez and went 75 yards for a touchdown at the 4:49 mark of the first quarter. Earnest’s PAT was good as Man led 7-0.

The Pirates then took advantage of a Man fumble as Drew Weis had a nifty spin move and raced down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown with 5:42 left until the half. The PAT tied the game 7-7.

Man made it 14-7 with 1:22 left until the half with Crum’s 4-yard keeper and Earnest’s extra point kick.

After a Fayetteville punt, Man got the ball back on its own 38 with only 14 seconds to go.

The Billies hoped to have one last chance — at least for a field goal attempt by Earnest. Crum put Man into position with a 24-yard keeper to the Pirate 38. The run, though, ate up 12 seconds off the clock and Man decided to pass on a long 55-yard field goal attempt. The Billies went for the hail mary instead. Crum dropped back and fired a long toss which bounced off Hatfield’s shoulder pads in the end zone and was intercepted as time expired.

Starting lineman Tyler Dunigon and fullback/linebacker Derek Lomax each suffered injuries during the game. Lomax hurt his knee and left the game in the second quarter. Arms said both are only minor.

“Dunigon went back in the game and played on offense,” Arms said. “It was just a normal football bang for him. I think it’s pretty much the same for Lomax. I think he just twisted his knee. There was no serious swelling or any sign of severe injury. At this point, it looks normal and hopefully everyone will be ready this week.”

Manny Gibson led the Man defense with six solo tackles, five solos and a sack.

Zack Underwood had four tackles, six solos and a sack.

Jimmy Duba had six solos and four assists. Tyler Dunigon had five tackles and a sack. Owens had two solos, three assists and his interception for a touchdown.