SETH — It might have been more difficult than they expected, but Sherman football coaches and players made school history Friday night.

The Tide became the first team in the program’s history to end the regular season with a 10-0 record.

Although its opponent was Class A Mount Hope, it was anything but easy for Class AA Sherman.

The Tide needed three fourth-quarter scores to snap a 19-19 tie and post a 38-27 victory over the Mustangs.

Many of the maroon-and-gold-clad fans stormed Zontini Field to celebrate the historic win with Sherman coach Shann Elkins and his team.

“We knew they were a pretty good football team,” Elkins said of Mount Hope, which finished the season with a 4-6 record and five consecutive losses.

“They played some good teams in Single A. We didn’t expect anything less than what we got.

“We didn’t play very well. Cut and dry. I thought we prepared well. I felt like we had a ton of distractions this week, and I felt like our kids handled it pretty good.

“I think it was just a matter of us not taking care of the football. We had three fumbles early, including one that led to a touchdown. We let them in the ball game and opened the door for them. To their credit, they were trying to take advantage of it.”

The Tide avoided the upset, however. Elkins pointed to veteran leadership from his 13 seniors.

“We have had that all year,” said Elkins, who replaced former Sherman coach Bill Miller last year, when Miller took a medical leave of absence.

“We had it back in the winter during weightlifting. We had it back in the summer during seven-on-seven. It’s a testament to these guys wanting to do something special, and they have.”

With its 33-32 win over county rival Scott two weeks ago, Sherman already had achieved a milestone with a 9-0 start, eclipsing the school-record 8-0 starts in 1929 and 1930.

“We’re excited about being 10-0,” said senior standout Jake Rollo, who starts at wide receiver, safety, kickoff returner and punt returner for the Tide. “But our 10-game season is over. We’re starting our four-game season now. We’re just going to come out and practice hard and give it all we have got in the next game.”

No. 14 Chapmanville (6-4) will visit No. 3 Sherman (10-0) in the opening round of the

Class AA state playoffs Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

“I’m just so happy for our kids,” said Elkins, whose team put an exclamation point on its remarkable turnaround from its 2-8 mark in his debut season last year. “They have worked their rear ends off, especially during the off-season.

“We came in here and we changed a lot of things. They had to learn a new system. Sometimes, you’re going to take your lumps from that. We were young up front last year. The offensive line has jelled a little bit.

“But the secret to success is work. These kids have put it in, and they have done what we have asked them to do, and they have gone above and beyond that. This is what happens when those things occur. We have talent, but the thing about it is, our talent worked and worked hard.”

The Tide’s first score in the final period was a 4-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Colby Treadway to senior wide receiver Tyler Boulet. Junior kicker David Chapman added the extra point to give the Boone County squad a 26-19 lead with 10:44 left in the game.

Sherman forced back-to-back turnovers (a fumble recovery by senior inside linebacker Johnathan Bowman and an

interception by Rollo) before adding to its advantage.

Treadway scrambled for a

46-yard touchdown run to give the Tide a 32-19 lead with 4:05 left in the game.

Mount Hope failed on a fourth-down conversion on its next possession and, to make matters worse for the Fayette County squad, committed an intentional grounding penalty on the play to give up the football at its 3-yard line.

Sherman took advantage of its short field. Treadway scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Tide a 38-19 lead with 2:24 left in the game.

The Mustangs set the final score on a 15-yard touchdown run by sophomore halfback Anthony Morris and a two-point conversion run by junior quarterback Jeff Edwards with 0:37 left in the game.

Treadway completed 16-of-27 passes for 185 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. He also carried 11 times for 106 yards and three scores.

Rollo had five catches for 69 yards but did most of his damage on special teams, where he returned a pair of punts for touchdowns.

Boulet had three catches for 45 yards and one score.

Senior wide receiver Jeff Cooper made two receptions for 19 yards.

Junior tailback Jake Halstead had 85 yards on 14 carries and 52 yards on six catches.

The Tide gained 370 total yards (185 passing and 185 rushing) and allowed 245 total yards (85 passing and 160 rushing).

Sherman had to overcome 11 penalties for 75 yards, four fumbles and two turnovers on downs.

“After beating teams like Scott and Herbert Hoover and Liberty Raleigh, we knew we couldn’t lose to Mount Hope because that’s a level below those teams,” Treadway said, referring to the difference between Class AA and Class A. “We wanted to go 10-0, and that was the team we had to get by to go 10-0. So, we did everything we had to do to go 10-0.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we did it.”

Sherman scored on its opening possession, a four-play, 66-yard drive in which Halstead accounted for all but 2 yards. He started it with a 15-yard run, followed by a 27-yard run and a 22-yard catch.

Treadway capped it with a 2-yard run with 10:32 remaining in the first quarter. Chapman added the extra point to give the Tide a 7-0 lead.

The Mustangs pulled within

7-6 after the second of

back-to-back-to-back fumbles by the Tide.

Facing a fourth-and-11 from Sherman’s 21-yard line, Mount Hope coach Eddie Souk pulled a fake field goal out of his bag of tricks.

Senior holder Kyle James took the snap and gave the football to Edwards on a reverse. Edwards then threw a touchdown pass to sophomore halfback Sean Bunting with 11:08 remaining in the second quarter.

The Mustangs tried the same play on their two-point conversion attempt, but Rollo tackled Edwards in the backfield.

Mount Hope took the lead on Sherman’s next possession, which ended with its third consecutive fumble.

This one was more costly than the others, however, because freshman linebacker Robin Gore recovered it and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown with 10:28 left before halftime. Junior kicker Emmitt Jones added the extra point to give the Mustangs a 13-7 lead.

The Tide tied the score at 13-13 with 8:01 remaining in the second quarter, when Rollo returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown.

“He’s an athlete,” Elkins said of Rollo. “He sees the field. He has great vision. He can see things that are happening around him.

“Our guys know when he’s back there and he gets the football, things can happen. So, we tend to really move people and stay on our blocks longer and do what we need to do to allow him to do what he can do. He creates a lot of things.

“That’s the good thing. He makes everybody around him better. They know any time he touches it, especially on special teams, he can go. It doesn’t hurt that he can fly.”

The Mustangs were poised to regain the lead on their next

possession, an 11-play, 41-yard drive that started after a 26-yard kickoff return by sophomore halfback Demetri Gray.

Edwards handed the football to Gray on fourth-and-goal from the Tide’s 3, but senior inside linebacker Codie Santonio

tackled Gray at the line of

scrimmage to thwart the threat.

Sherman failed on a fourth-down conversion of its own on its next possession.

Driving to the Mustangs’ 20 in 10 plays, the Tide came up inches short on a fourth-and-2 pass from Treadway to Halstead with 0:55 left before halftime.

Mount Hope opened the second half with a 10-play, 74-yard scoring drive in which the Fayette County squad converted a fourth-and-9 from Sherman's 43 on a fake punt.

Edwards threw to James for a 15-yard gain that became a 30-yard gain after a 15-yard penalty against the Tide, which committed a

personal foul on the play.

The Mustangs took a 19-13 lead two plays later, when Gray scored on a 7-yard touchdown run with 8:37 remaining in the third quarter.

Rollo and Boulet knocked junior halfback Adam Lowe out of bounds at Sherman’s 1 to keep Mount Hope from converting its two-point conversion attempt.

The Tide tied the score at 19-19 with 4:08 remaining in the third quarter, when Rollo returned a punt 53 yards for a touchdown.

“If your offense can’t score, you have to find other ways to score,” Rollo said of his two punt return touchdowns. “I know you have to step it up some other way.”

For Rollo, that usually is on punts.

“Obviously, you have to catch the ball first,” he said. “I have to make sure my first guy (Boulet) has a good block so I have room to return the ball. Then, the field seems so wide. If I see a gap, I try to shoot through it because I know I’m going to have a guy there blocking for me.”