What We Saw: White Knoll 21, Summerville 14

LEXINGTON | There's another team who's also authoring its own “Greatest Story Ever”.   In fact, it's a story which seems even farfetched for one of the main contributors. It's about how White Knoll went from winless three years ago to now a victory away from the Class 5A title.    “If you were to tell us my freshman year we would be playing in the state finals, I wouldn't even believe it, to be honest with you” White Knoll linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='911089' first='Jaiden' last='Kimble'] said.    Thanks to the efforts of the Shrine Bowl selection and his teammates, the undefeated Timberwolves are now Class 5A Lower State champions. They defeated Summerville 21-14 at home by playing “textbook football”, particularly on defense, according to head coach Nick Pelham.   “I think we tackled really well,” he said. “Expect for two big plays. Their two big plays, we had two missed tackles. Other than that, we had a great tackling night.”   Linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1083060' first='Connor' last='Burgess'] had a team-high 8 ½ tackles and defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id='1142518' first='Demenico' last='Banks'] had eigh tackles and a sackt for the Timberwolves. However, it was the timely stops made on defense which held a Green Wave which averaged 47.7 points per game to their season low.    While credited with only 3 ½ tackles, Kimble left his mark on the game. When he was not pressuring quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='367350' first='Jaden' last='Cummings'], making hard hits to disrupt potential long plays or recovering a fumble, he also averaged  31.1 yards on five punts.    The first half saw White Knoll continue its dominant post-season defensive play. It held the Green Wave to 53 total yards in jumping out to a 14-0 halftime lead.    Quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='346199' first='Landon' last='Sharpe'] (left in picture), who was selected to participate in the Dec. 8 Joanne Langfitt Junior Showcase in Myrtle Beach, threw for 181 yards. His 35-yard touchdown pass to [player_tooltip player_id='994939' first='CJ' last='Earl'] put the Timberwolves on the board and his passes of 10 and 24 yards to Evan Henderson set up a 3-yard touchdown run by [player_tooltip player_id='1036740' first='Tiyon' last='Fanning'] (right in picture) before the half.   Summerville (13-1) finally got on the board in the third quarter. A 56-yard run  by [player_tooltip player_id='771065' first='Yannick' last='Smith'] set up the first of two touchdown runs by [player_tooltip player_id='589013' first='Trae' last='Green'].    In the fourth quarter, White Knoll's defense helped provide an insurance touchdown. As Cummings was pressured out of the pocket, his pass to the sidelines was intercepted by Mondo Domenech.    The freshman linebacker, who came back from a torn ACL suffered mid-seaso last year,  managed to stay inabounds while diving for the football at the Summerville 39.    A 21-yard catch and run by tight end [player_tooltip player_id='467583' first='Tyson' last='Cox'], followed by a 15-yard run by Fanning led to a Sharpe touchdown run to make it 21-7.   “He's such a great young man,” Pelham said. “He's a great student. He's a great player, a great son, a great teammate. He's perfec. He's exactly what we want and for him to make that play, I can see him. He saw the scramble, he saw where it was going to go and he gave every once of energy to dive, to put his knee down.   “A great kid to have something great happen to him. I'll be telling that story for the rest of my life. Good things have to good people and that's Mondo Domenech.”    Summerville's next series saw freshman safety [player_tooltip player_id='1172353' first='James' last='Smith'] make, in Pelham's words, the “second greatest tackle he's ever seen in person”. On first down at the Summerville 35, he stopped [player_tooltip player_id='771065' first='Yannick' last='Smith'] for a one-yard loss.    “As a defensive coach, that was the most euphoric thing I've ever witnessed,” Pelham said.    It did not take long for the Green Wave to turn Pelham's euphoria into worry. Cummings hit Smith on a slant and he outran three White Knoll defenders downfield for a 53-yard reception.   Green added a three-yard scoring run to bring Summerville within a touchdown with 4:55 left.    “I've aged a few years already this year and those two long plays by (Smith), I feel like I'm 90 years old already. What a great athlete. What a great play. He played hard. He broke tackles, but our kids new we were going to have another stop.”   White Knoll would get that opportunity on Summerville's final series. After the Green Wave converted two fourth downs, the Timberwolves allowed just one yard the rest of the way.    White Knoll forced three straight incompletions to force a turnover on downs with 17 seconds left.    After Sharpe took a knee, the on-field celebration game among the players, coaches and fans.    “Everybody stepped up when they needed to and that's why we're going to the ‘ship',” Sharpe said.    A familiar foe awaits the Timberwolves in Friday's final at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. They will face defending state champion and Region 4-5A champion Dutch Fork in a rematch from the Oct. 6 game won by White Knoll 17-14.

LEXINGTON | There's another team who's also authoring its own “Greatest Story Ever”.