It was early in the third quarter, and the Century Jaguars were driving. Down by just two touchdowns, they had the ball inside the Glencoe 30-yard line and were looking to get back in the game.

That's when Tanner Apeland turned in the play of the match. The Crimson Tide senior picked up a Derek Miller fumble and raced 76 yards to paydirt. The touchdown gave Glencoe all the momentum back, and the visitors went on from there to whip the Jaguars, 35-6 on Friday night at Hillsboro Stadium.

"It's a good thing when the ball's in his hands," Tide head coach Tim Duvall said of Apeland. "He can make plays."

Indeed.

Apeland's sprint up the left sideline, plus a nice cutback to the middle of the field to avoid a would-be tackler, made it 21-0 Glencoe with 7:10 to go in the third period.

“You definitely just saw the wind blow out of our sails on that, and that can’t happen,” Century head coach Bill Smith said. “And I can’t blame anybody. Just, we have to get better.”

The game marked the Northwest Oregon Conference opener for both teams.

While the Class 5A fourth-ranked Tide (4-0 overall, 1-0 in NWOC) remained unbeaten, the Jaguars (2-2, 0-1) saw their two-match winning streak come to an end.

“Glencoe’s really tough,” said Miller, who ruined the Tide’s shutout bid with a 10-yard TD run with 17 seconds remaining in the game. “They go straight for that ball, and they try to rip it out of your hands every single time. It got the best of our players, including me.”

In the process, Glencoe avenged last year’s 13-12 loss to Century at Hare Field. And the Tide did it behind its solid running game, mixed in with a play-action pass that was working to near-perfection.

In addition to his defensive TD, Apeland started at quarterback for Glencoe and completed 8 of 13 passes for 144 yards, including a 35-yard scoring strike to Derrick Elford in the second quarter.

“We moved it really well in the first half — we just couldn’t convert,” said Apeland, referring to the Tide offense being stopped on downs twice and punting once on their opening three possessions. “We just had trouble punching it in, but then we got that problem solved in the second half.”

Senior Kyle Cameron broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Glencoe running back finished with a game-high 113 yards on just 17 carries. Junior Jeremy Cronk, meanwhile, added 85 yards on 13 attempts, with a fourth-period TD as well, this one from 20 yards out.

All told, the Tide rushed for 203 yards.

At the same time, Apeland spread the ball around through the air, completing passes to five receivers in Elford (two catches for 64 yards), Hayden Plinke (three for 51), Joseph Duvall (one for 12), Kory Kirwan (one for 12) and Alex Roth (one for five).

Roth also scored on the ground from a yard out for the game’s opening TD early in the second period. “Play-action was a little bit better tonight, and that’s because of the way they play,” Duvall said of the Jaguars. “When you’re going to play that aggressive to the run, sometimes you’re going to be susceptible to play-action. I think that was a key.”

Century turned the ball over three times, and Glencoe did a nice job containing Miller (just 37 yards passing) and running back RJ Blosl (only 32 yards rushing on seven carries).

Blosl was coming off a game the week before in which he ran for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

“It hurts to practice so hard and to play so poorly, and we played poorly,” said Smith, whose team was penalized nine times for 47 yards. “We don’t have an excuse for playing as poorly as we did. We just made way too many mistakes, and that has to change if we’re going to be successful this year.”

In Friday’s round two of NWOC play, the Tide gets the showdown of the season against No. 5 Hilhi (3-1, 1-0) at Hare Field, while the Jaguars wrap up a tough three-game stretch by traveling to top-ranked Sherwood (4-0, 1-0).

Game notes: In a bizarre series near the end of the first half, Glencoe called all three of its timeouts in a row. That forced Century kicker Brennen Scott to attempt a 27-yard field goal three times. He made the first two, but they didn’t count as the referees blew those dead, and then Scott missed his third try, the one that counted. … The Tide are now 10-2 all-time against the Jaguars, having won nine of the last 10 meetings. … Blosl, who pulled his hamstring early last week, was able to suit up Friday, and then he rolled his ankle late in the third quarter. But he was able to stay in the game and should be okay, Smith said. … Elford and Trevin Kellow each collected an interception for Glencoe, while Justin Stedman had Century’s lone pick — marking just the second time the Tide had turned the ball over this year.