Shadow Creek is 31-1 in two seasons and have went to back-to-back state finals

After three dominant defensive quarters, T.J. Marshall wasn’t about to let a state championship slip through Shadow Creek’s hands for a second consecutive season.

With no time on the clock, Marshall stopped Denton Ryan’s Hail Mary by knocking the ball out of Drew Sanders’ grip, giving the Sharks a 28-22 win and a state championship in just their second varsity season. In two seasons, Shadow Creek is 31-1 and reached the state championship game twice. The Sharks’ only loss came to Highland Park in last year’s championship game.

On Denton Ryan’s final snap from the Shadow Creek 25-yard line, Seth Henigan avoided a pass rush and lofted a pass into the front of the end zone, where Sanders, a 6-foot-5 tight end leapt and got both hands on the ball. Before he could secure it, Marshall crashed into him, dislodging the ball to preserve the win.

Shadow Creek’s defense dominated until the final minutes. The Sharks held the Raiders to 130 yards of offense in through three quarters while opening up a 28-15 lead on the strength of quarterback Kyron Drones’ 135 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Drones also passed for 185 yards to earn Offensive MVP honors.

“All I could do was scream,” Drones said after seeing the ball fall to the turf. “Just scream and jump up. That’s it. And be happy that we are state champions right now.”

In the final 3:08, Ryan’s offense got untracked, gaining 120 of its season-low 250 yards. Henigan capped a 67-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Tavion Sanders with 1:14 left bring Ryan within 28-22.

After forcing a punt and spending all three timeouts in the process to get the ball back, Henigan marched the Raiders from their own 18 to the Shadow Creek 25 in 48 seconds to set up the final play. He connected with Billy Bowman Jr. for 15 yards to keep the drive alive, then hit Bowman again to start a double-lateral sequence that set up the final play.

Henigan finished with 163 yards and a touchdown, completing 19-of-35 passes.

Despite its inability to move the ball consistently against a Shadow Creek defense led by Jeremiah Harris, Ryan stayed in the game thanks to its special teams and defense. Bowman Jr. intercepted a pair of Drones passes to thwart promising drives, and Aaron Dixon returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score.

Shadow Creek had a special teams touchdown as well. In the second quarter, Ryan punter Riley Nozzo kicked a ball off the ground after he couldn’t pick up a snap that had sailed over his head, and when no one touched it dead, Randy Masters alertly scooped it up and ran 37 yards for a touchdown without being touched.

- Jay Plotkin

VIDEO RECAP

BOX SCORE

Denton Ryan      8          0          7          7 - 22

Shadow Creek   7          7          7          7 - 28

Scoring

1st quarter

SC-Kyron Drones 1 run (Eric Landaverde kick)

DR-Aaron Dixon 93 kickoff return (Drew Sanders run)

2nd quarter

SC-Randy Masters 37 punt return (Landaverde kick)

3rd quarter

SC-Drones 1 run (Landaverde kick)

DR-Drew Sanders 2 run (Riley Nozzo kick)

4th quarter

SC-Kelvon Brown 8 run (Landaverde kick)

DR-Ja’Tavion Sanders 26 pass from Seth Henigan (Nozzo kick)

Team Stats        Ryan     Shadow Creek

1st downs          18        20

Rushes-Yards    25-87   44-212

Passing Yards    163      185

Passing 19-36-0 10-18-2

Fum-Lost          1-0       2-1

Pen-Yards         7-55     14-102

Punts-Avg         5-32.8  3-40.0

Individual Leaders

Denton Ryan

Rushing: Emani Bailey 9-51; Drew Sanders 8-25, TD; Seth Henigan 8-11

Passing: Henigan 19-35-0-163, TD

Receiving: Drew Sanders 6-48; Billy Bowman Jr. 6-42; Ja’Tavion Sanders 4-65, TD

Shadow Creek

Rushing: Kyron Drones 24-135, 2 TDs; Kelvon Brown 14-59, TD; Jay’Veon Bell 6-18

Passing: Drones 10-18-2-185

Receiving: Greg Hancock 3-59; CJ Guidry 2-46; Seth Jones 3-44; Jared Jackson 1-20; Brown 1-16