5A football: Cretin-Derham Hall 27, Eastview 24

Saturday's Class 5A football quarterfinal was a back-and-forth affair that saw momentum shift between Eastview and Cretin-Derham Hall several times.

It was enough, apparently, to make the No. 1 recruit in the nation lose track of just who had the lead.

Say what?

For the record, Cretin-Derham Hall (10-1) pulled out a 27-24 victory. But until the final minute, that was news to 6-7 senior lineman Seantrel Henderson.

"I thought we were down 24 to 27," Henderson said. "I'm just playing like I'm gonna cry if we lose."

It didn't register until after Henderson helped sack Eastview's Jack McDevitt on fourth down in Cretin territory with 49.7 seconds left. Henderson, who plays both ways, was confused that a kneel-down was the play call on offense.

"[A teammate] was like, 'Yeah, we're up,'" Henderson said with a smile. "I didn't even know."

Call it a fitting postgame twist in a game with plenty of them on the field.

Eastview needed just one play -- a 75-yard run by Alex Suker -- to take an early 7-0 lead. The teams traded touchdowns, with the Lightning going up 14-7 on an 8-yard TD run by Rex Sanders with 2:16 left in the half. When the Raiders punted, it looked as though underdog Eastview (7-4) would go into intermission with no worse than a seven-point lead. But Eastview muffed the punt, and the Raiders' Mark Alt immediately hit Clay Horne for a 34-yard TD. Eastview then fumbled on the first play of its next drive, and Alt's third TD pass gave the Raiders a 21-14 lead at the half.

The Lightning, though, used a 42-yard fake punt on fourth-and-14 on their first drive of the second half -- and another fourth-down conversion successful by about an inch -- to tie. Eastview recovered an onside kick, and a field goal meant the Raiders had fallen behind without touching the ball for nearly 11 minutes.

But Cameron Clarkson's 51-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the Raiders the lead again. Eastview drove late to the 22, but a 15-yard penalty for too many men on the field set the Lightning back.

"The officials called it right. It was just a mistake on my part," Eastview coach Kelly Sherwin said. "We were in field goal range. It just killed us."

Three incompletions and a sack later, the Raiders had iced the game. And a few moments after that, Henderson could celebrate.