It is why you go to watch high school football. The hopes and anticipation of two teams undefeated in league play squaring off on the last night of league with the winner taking the title and an easier path to the state championship. It is why you go to watch high school football. To watch a kid who is special on a football field do special things. When the smoke had cleared, Sherwoods unblemished league winning streak came to an end and Glencoe manhandled the vaunted Sherwood defense on their way to a 32-21 victory over the third ranked Bowmen.

In a game that saw multiple momentum swings, it all came down to Glencoe being punched into the ropes with 8:43 left, trailing 21-18 in the game and responding with an 18 play drive that went 88 yards and stopping Sherwood from delivering the knockout punch. Depending on who you were rooting for, it was a thing of beauty or a thing of angst as David Puckett took 10 carries for 52 yards on this single drive. Thats a good night for most ball carriers. What Puckett did for the night was even more astounding.

If Glencoe is not the most improved team in the state, then Christmas shopping will be cancelled. They came out fired up and scored the evenings first touchdown when Landry See went in from two yards out to give the Crimson Tide a 6-0 lead. The extra point was blocked by Sherwoods Travis Lutes. Sherwood would answer the bell and drive right down the field with Ian Donovan hitting TE Jordy Tabert for eight yards and Ben Butterfield for 12 yards before Josh Graham plowed in from five yards out and after a Nate Hickok PAT, led 7-6 early in the second quarter.

An inspired Sherwood defense would force Glencoe into a three-and-out before Lutes again busted through to block the punt where Tabert scooped it and took it down to the Glencoe 12 before fumbling it to teammate Mac Jones who recovered it on the Glencoe 10 yards line. Two plays later, Donovan would roll left and into the endzone to give Sherwood a 14-6 lead with 7:59 in the second quarter. Glencoe knew just what to do. Hand to Number 5. Hand to Number 5 (repeat several more times). Puckett would carry the ball nine times in a row and gain 65 yards to bring the visitors to within two and trail 14-12. Glencoe's defense would seize the momentum and force Sherwood to a three-and-out and then again give the Bowmen a dose of Puckett who would this time carry the ball three times for another 52 yards, catch a pass for six more yards and let Landry See again take it in from a yard out as Glencoe scored with 18 seconds left before the half. The Crimson Tide went into the locker room with an 18-14 lead. For the half, Puckett had 24 carries for 209 yards. For the half. Did I say he had this for the half? He also captured Glencoes all-time leading rushing title in the first half. Sherwood should have had a parade in his honor. Maybe a pizza to eat. Anything that might have slowed him down.

The second half started off with Sherwood receiving and failing to get any momentum as Glencoe was still fired up. Glencoe started handing off to Puckett who kept adding yardage until they picked up a first and goal when "The Crimson Crusader' actually did something human. He fumbled at the Bowman four yard line where Sherwoods Kole Krieger pounced on it to keep the game from getting out of hand. After a holding call that moved them back inside the one yard line, the Bowmen showed their mettle and proceeded to click off a 99 yard drive and score when Donovan hit junior Ben Butterfield from 24 yards out and just like that, Shewood had the momentum back and a 21-18 lead with 1:10 left in the third quarter. Energized, Sherwood defense would hold. Glenoce was pinned deep and only managed to punt to their own 25 yard line.

They would march down to a first and goal inside the 10 and could have gone up 28-18 but instead stalled and turned the ball over on downs with three incomplete passes. Trailing by three with 88 yards and 8:43 left, Glencoe was confident. It wasn't without a few converted fourth downs though. The most harrowing and treacherous being a 4th and 10 on the Sherwood 29 with 1:32 left in the game when Glencoe went to their bag of tricks and Puckett rolled out with the ball for a halfback pass only to get flushed. Several tacklers had him dead in the water for a loss. Not on this night. Puckett would reverse his field and scamper on the broken play all the way down to the Sherwood 3 yard line before Kyle Hogan would take it in with 40 seconds left in the game and after their first made extra point would grab a 25-21 cushion as Glencoe fans went from pensive to pandemonium. "I made a mistake when I fumbled and knew we had to get it back. We've been working hard lateley and it came together. It was such a good feeling." A last ditch pass withh 11 seconds by Donovan would get picked by Jordan Hoffert who would return the interception 30 yards back for the touchdown to put the game out of reach.

This night belonged to Puckett and his linemen who continually opened gaps wide enought for Puckett to slither through and get into the secondary. He would finish the night rushing a total of 45 times for 324 yards. "This was such a great win. It was the best game we played all year." Clearly what Glencoe did was unexpected. They motored through both Wilsonville and Sherwood to capture the flag. They no longer resemble the team they were in September. They have the groove and are hitting on all cylinders. They were clearly the better team on this evening as their 21-8 first down advantage would indicate. They have a running back who deserves mention along with Lambert, Young and McCaffrey as one of the states best. I think Shewood would agree.