Sheldon escapes unscathed.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

Once again, South Eugene gave Sheldon its toughest test of the conference season.

And once again, Sheldon emerged victorious to cap off yet another unbeaten run through the conference schedule.

Zach Todd ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns to lead the fifth-ranked Irish to a 22-14 win over South Eugene on Friday night in Southwest Conference football at South Eugene High School.

Sheldon (9-1 overall, 5-0 SWC) went undefeated in conference play for the seventh year in a row and won its 56th straight league game to surpass Marshfield for the second-longest conference winning streak in state history.

"That's major, to uphold everything and keep going undefeated in league every year," Todd said. "We put in blood, sweat and tears and got it done."

Sheldon will have a first-round bye in the playoffs next week after winning its seventh straight conference title.

The Irish won their first four league games by a total score of 156-37, but South Eugene held the Irish to their lowest offensive output in SWC play and scored more points against the Irish than any other conference foe.

"Every year South Eugene is a challenge; this is the biggest point spread of the last four years against them," Todd said.

Sheldon beat South Eugene 34-28 on a last-minute touchdown in 2004 and then the Irish beat the Axemen in overtime the last two seasons. For the fourth year in a row, South still had hope of snapping Sheldon's winning streak late in the game, but Sheldon made a late defensive stop and ran out the clock to secure the win.

"It was a gutsy effort in the second half and our defense stepped up," Sheldon coach Marty Johnson said. "I hope this is good for us. We had four fairly easy games in a row in terms of the score and tonight we had to fight it out."

With just under nine minutes left in the game, Sheldon led 16-14 and faced second-and-seven at its own 21-yard line when Todd ran left and went 68 yards to the South Eugene 11-yard line.

"That was a huge run and you expect that out of your premium players," Johnson said. "The guys up front did a great job."

Todd capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run that gave the Irish a 22-14 lead with 6:13 remaining, but Sheldon missed the extra point.

South Eugene faced fourth-and-seven at its own 48-yard line on its next drive, when quarterback Dustin Haines was stopped for a two-yard run that gave the ball back to Sheldon with 3:01 remaining.

The Irish had a fourth-and-one at South's 25-yard line, and fullback Brandon Baker dove forward for a two-yard gain that secured the victory with 1:12 remaining.

Todd had 171 yards on 20 carries, and quarterback Jordan Johnson rushed for 110 yards on 19 carries. Johnson was 10-for-14 for 131 yards.

Haines rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for 104 yards for the Axemen (4-5, 0-5).

"I'm proud of the effort, we finally put it together," South Eugene coach Travis Johnson said.

"You don't like to lose, but from where we came from with a bunch of new kids and guys who had not played varsity, we came a long way. Sheldon got us again, but there is always next year."

South Eugene took a 7-0 lead when Haines scored on a five-yard run in the first quarter.

Todd answered with a 14-yard run that tied the game 7-7 with 2:15 left in the first quarter.

South Eugene was forced to punt from its own 4-yard line midway through the second quarter, but Sheldon's Austin Embery blocked the punt and the ball went out of the end zone for a safety that gave the Irish a 9-7 lead.

Sheldon scored on its ensuing possession when Baker had a one-yard TD run to give the Irish a 16-7 lead with 2:36 left in the first half. South Eugene cut the lead to 16-14 when Haines scored on a one-yard run with 29 seconds left in the half.