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The Sherwood football team's perfect season came to a perfect end Friday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

A 21-3 win over Frederick County's Linganore in the Maryland Class 4A championship game capped an undefeated 14-game season and earned the Warriors' first state football title since 1996, and third in school history.

For many Sherwood seniors, it was the third trip to the state final in their four years.

"This is my fifth state championship, including wrestling, and it's my first win," fullback/linebacker Steven Gamble said. "To play as a unit, to play as a team, this was really my most fun year. To finish it with a state championship is just awesome."

In the four years since Gamble and his classmates walked through the doors for the first time, Sherwood has won 47 games. Most schools have only played 40 times during that span.

But the Warriors' four most recent trips to the championship game ended in disappointment. They lost to Gaithersburg in 2000, Parkland in '02, Damascus in '05 and Suitland in '06.

Those last two teams were led by a record-setting quarterback, Deontay Twyman, who threw for over 7,000 yards in his career. After Twyman graduated, Sherwood got back to the regional final in 2007, but a run to this year's title was unexpected.

"We went into this season and I thought we were maybe a 6-4 team," head coach Al Thomas said. "But on this team, there's a lot of character, a lot of toughness and a lot of heart. Here's the positive of our team: we had 26 seniors."

Thomas liked to point out that his team is smaller than most, slower than many, and includes only one player who has been recruited to play for a college football program.

Senior center Matt Emerson played half the season with a cast on his dominant left hand; he snapped the ball with his right since mid-October. Junior linebacker Philip Durity played the last three games with a torn meniscus in his knee; defensive lineman Peter Lampe has a dislocated shoulder.

Yet they overcame all of it to become ? there's no other word ? dominant. The Warriors won their games by an average score of 34-6. The defense allowed just eight touchdowns all season long.

"[Thomas] always emphasizes how some other team is unstoppable," senior Sosthene Kapepula said. "We like to be underdogs; we like to be booed at. I really don't think none of those guys intimidated us at all."

Thomas made a little history himself Friday. It was his state-record eighth championship at a state-record third different school. He won five at Seneca Valley at two at Damascus.

Thomas, 69, began his coaching career at Gaithersburg High in 1964, as an assistant to another county legend, John Harvill. He has now won state championships as a head coach in four different decades: his first was in 1976, his most recent before Friday was 1993.

After his seventh title, Thomas left the head coaching game for 10 years; he made his return five years ago at Sherwood.

"To be coached by someone who's won eight titles at three different schools is fantastic," Gamble said. "It's one of the best things. I think he really did help me as a football player."

Thomas plans to continue coaching beyond this year, health-permitting. He's got a good reason to come back: state championship number nine is still out there waiting.

"Eight doesn't mean anything to me, it's the happiness of this one," Thomas said. "I told my wife, ‘It's better to retire one year too soon than one year too late.' … But I tell you, our JV team went undefeated this year. too. That doesn't make you want to retire."