Sheldon's five-star recruit Curtis White saved his best for last and it couldn't have come at a better time. Trailing in the closing minute 28-27, Sheldon's cagey quarterback Jordan Johnson found White at the back of the endzone and lofted a ten yard touchdown pass just over the defender and into his All-American's outstretched hands to give the undefeated and top ranked Irish a thrilling 33-28 win before a national ESPN audience in a Thursday Night game at Southridge.

Southridge coach Brad Mastrud must feel a bit relieved even in the loss. It seems his Skyhawks shook off the "Canby Coma' that struck the team last week and behind Willie Lowe's 198 yards on 28 carries, Mastrud kept his team in the game until the very end. Not only was Southridge picking up plenty of first downs, they were also keeping the high octane Sheldon team off the field. Across the field, Sheldons Marty Johnson was watching in horror as his defense couldn't seem to stop Southridge. While his quarterback ran for two scores to give the Irish an early 14-0 lead, the only thing that kept it from being a tie score were a couple of costly Skyhawk turnovers, one deep in Irish territory.

The two schools did Oregon proud on the national stage as both teams played pretty high caliber football with Sheldon's Cameron Abeene (150 yards on 18 carries) and Lowe both constantly picking up yards in heavy traffic and Johnson and his counterpart, Kyle Maginnis making intelligent choices as they found success leading their teams down the field on long drives repeatedly. Southridge racked up 23 first downs on the night and Sheldon moved the chains 21 times. Very few penalties were called and more importantly, both teams appeared to avoid any injuries as they head into conference play next week. 

White, the tight end/linebacker and Oregon recruit, was just cleared to play yesterday from a shoulder injury suffered early this season and it was obvious he wasn't at full speed early on. He struggled early on and the only thing working for Sheldon was running the ball as Johnson's other favorite target, John Campbell, didn't get untracked until the second half. Johnson's passing was even erratic on this night which is unusal.  However, after Johnson's two rushing touchdowns, Southridge put together a solid drive behind Magginis who ran for a long gainer before hitting AJ Riley for an 18 yard pass play. Then Lowe would refuse to go down as he took one right down the middle of the field shedding Irish tacklers for a 22 yard touchdown run.

In the second quarter, disaster hit for the home team as Sheldon picked off a Magginis pass and took four plays before Johnson scampered in for his third touchdown on the night from 17 yards out to build the lead to 21-7. The Skyhawks would answer with an 11 play drive with Lowe accounting for 52 yards on 7 carries and with 54 second before half they would cut the lead to 21-14.

Southridge received to open the third quarter and continued to execute their game plan perfectly. The 10 play drive ate up six minutes and a seven yard run by Lowe tied it up 21-21 as they headed into the fourth quarter. Sheldon would punt after a three and out and the Skyhawks would take their first lead after Magginis broke several tackles before breaking free and streaking down the north sideline for a 52 yard run and into the west endzone as the home fans went wild. However, Sheldon isn't the top team in the state without validation. Sheldon would take over on their 19 yard line and on a third and long, Johnson would finally find White downfield for a 41 yard gain. Abeene would roll into the endzone and Sheldons extra point would smash into the crossbar and kick back out so with 8:36 left, they trailed 28-27. So much for the Kansas Plan.

Needing a defensive stop, the Irish would finally succeed in shutting down the Southridge attack and force the Skyhawks into just their second punt of the night. With 3:53 left, Sheldon would march down to the 7 yard line thanks to drive that included 24 rushing yards from Abeene and 36 receiving yards from Cambell before Johnson hit White on a 3rd and 10 with 1:18 left for the game winner.