Blake Lehnen kept the home crowd roaring and Chatham Glenwood football completed a shocking comeback win over Sacred Heart-Griffin with 12.4 seconds left.
CHATHAM — Chatham Glenwood's magic endured in Week 8 of the high school football season, even after Sacred Heart-Griffin's go-ahead touchdown with 56.3 seconds remaining in their showdown game.
Blake Lehnen's 29-yard kickoff return resuscitated Glenwood's hopes, and the Titans barreled toward the goal line. Grady Mueller's go-ahead touchdown plunge with 12.4 seconds left resulted in another instant classic win, this time by a 35-31 score, at the Glenwood Athletic Complex on Friday, Oct. 17.
Glenwood edged SHG 34-31 in last year's overtime thriller.
Mueller, the senior running back, totaled 168 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Senior QB Colten Knoedler completed 12 of 23 passing attempts for 252 yards and two scores with one interception.
Glenwood (8-0) trailed 24-7 at the start of the fourth quarter but quickly surged back into contention on a couple pivotal fourth downs. Glenwood's pass defense forced an incompletion on a fourth-and-3 inside the red zone trailing by three scores, while the interior line stonewalled a rushing attempt on a fourth-and-1 at the SHG 29-yard line.
Both stops set up scoring drives. Knoedler capitalized on the latter with a 29-yard TD pass to sophomore wideout Hugo Lopp — his first career TD reception — to pare the deficit 24-21 with 5:40 left in the final period.
Mueller later propelled Glenwood ahead 28-24 on a 36-yard TD run with 2:31 remaining. It still left plenty of time for SHG (6-2).
SHG junior quarterback Cam Brinkman scrambled and connected with senior wideout Drew Ward for a stunning 44-yard TD pass to recapture a 31-28 advantage with under a minute left.
Lehnen, however, brought the home crowd back to its feet. The blistering-fast senior zig-zagged to midfield and Knoedler threw three consecutive completions to reach the 2-yard line with 18.6 seconds left. Mueller provided the exclamation point.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Chatham Glenwood football edges Sacred Heart-Griffin with late rally
Category: General Sports
