PARKER — With both schools’ play­off hopes pos­si­bly on the line, the reign­ing Class 4A champs met an unde­feat­ed 5A team on Sat­ur­day — and the big school sur­vived by the slimmest of margins.

A Pine Creek extra point sailed wide right late, and 5A No. 7 Leg­end hung on to win 21–20 over the 4A third-ranked Eagles.

“This win means a lot, they’re the defend­ing champs,” said Leg­end quar­ter­back Kalen Shoe­mak­er, who threw three touch­down pass­es in the win. “They’re a powerhouse.”

Leg­end (5–0) only pos­sessed the ball only three times in the sec­ond half. Their three plays in the third result­ed in a punt, sand­wiched in between two bruis­ing Pine Creek (2–1) touch­down dri­ves that tied the game at 14.

Legend’s first touch in the fourth quar­ter result­ed in a 40-yard touch­down con­nec­tion from Shoe­mak­er to Jack­son Brush, their sec­ond of the game. Shoe­mak­er took a play-action fake and found Brush, who ran upfield and into the end zone to take the lead back, 21–14.

“We fired back, “Shoe­mak­er said. “We expect­ed to come put a dri­ve togeth­er and get it in, but we got the big play.”

Big plays were Legend’s forte. Their first touch­down came late in the sec­ond quar­ter after a fourth-down con­ver­sion from Con­nor Eise. A few plays lat­er, Shoe­mak­er hit Carter Hel­frich on third-and-goal in the end zone for the game’s first points.

On the ensu­ing Pine Creek pos­ses­sion, a penal­ty forced the Eagles deep into their own ter­ri­to­ry and then a fum­ble gave the ball away. Shoe­mak­er and Brush hooked up for their first Titan touch­down after that to give Leg­end a 14–0 lead at the half.

“We were fir­ing on all cylin­ders,” Shoe­mak­er said. “Our defense was lights out. One of the best defens­es in 5A.”

Pine Creek came back in the sec­ond half by con­vert­ing on a fourth down via a fake punt. That pass­ing play marked the Eagles’ first recep­tion of the game. The Eagles need­ed anoth­er fourth-down con­ver­sion a few plays lat­er to keep their dri­ve alive. Josi­ah Roy rolled right and hit Beau Freyler, who not only got to the sticks, but reached the goal line as the Eagles cut the Titans lead in half.

After a three-and-out, Pine Creek got the foot­ball right back. A quick strike from Roy to Ian Car­roll went for 45 yards. Knock­ing on the red zone, the Eagles need­ed a third straight fourth-down con­ver­sion to keep mov­ing. They got it. A few plays lat­er, Roy kept it for a short touch­down to start the fourth quar­ter knot­ting the game up at 14.

Shoe­mak­er and Brush respond­ed with their big play that would even­tu­al­ly be the game-winner.

Pine Creek then bruised its way down the field. Using their time­outs, the Eagles slow­ly got to the end zone with min­utes left. Roy hit William Kea to get an extra point away from tying it. High winds forced a long Pine Creek field goal to sail right in the first half. The poten­tial game-tying extra point suf­fered the same fate. All Leg­end had to do was ice it from there.

“That’s a great foot­ball team,” Shoe­mak­er said. “It wasn’t easy.”