Central starts fast, holds off West rally
By David Klein
In its first Region 2-5A game of the season at Central, the Bobcats got off to a fast start against the West Rebels in the first half but withstood a furious West rally in the fourth quarter to win 29-21. The Bobcats jumped out to a 29-7 lead in the first half as quarterback Kaden Long heated up in the passing game as he passed for three touchdowns and ran for another one.
Central got on the scoreboard first as Long threw his first touchdown pass, an 11-yard pass to JJ Sackie. The Bobcats led 7-0 with 7:20 left in the first quarter.
“The whole week we were talking about doing our fundamentals,” Sackie said. “That was just a catch and score. We played as a family; we played as a team and made it happen.”
West had a chance to answer, but an apparent touchdown was called back on a holding penalty. West would miss a field goal to end its possession.
Following a Rebel stop of the Bobcats on a 4th-and-goal at the Rebel 1-yard line, Central recorded a safety to go up 9-0 with 7:45 left in the second quarter. After West kicked off to Central, the Bobcats wasted no time on their drive as it took just one play to score. Long lofted a pass down the right sideline to Javaston Badgett, and he caught it in stride and raced 79 yards for a touchdown. Central led 16-0 with 7:18 left in the second quarter.
“I’ve got playmakers all around me,” Long said. “I got my line protecting me, they did an amazing job tonight. I give number 3 (Badgett) the ball and he can go run it in the end zone; he makes my job easy.”
Badgett said, “They didn’t know what I could do downfield with my speed so we used that as an advantage and we took a couple of shots and it worked.”
West would answer. Aided by a personal foul facemask, West had a first down at the Central 27-yard line. Three plays later, Messiah Wrenn ran for a 2-yard touchdown to cut it to 16-7 with 4:54 left in the second.
Just when it looked like West was getting back into the game, Central answered on Long’s 36-yard touchdown run with 3:08 left in the second quarter to put the Bobcats up 22-7.
Two minutes and seven seconds later, Long would throw his third touchdown pass of the game to Badgett, who caught his second touchdown. The touchdown pass went for 32 yards and put the Bobcats up 29-7 with one minute left in the second quarter.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the stage was set for West’s fourth quarter rally. West’s Ryheem Lee barreled for a 7-yard touchdown run to cut Central’s lead to 29-14 with 11:41 left in fourth quarter.
On Central’s ensuing possession, the Rebels blocked Braeson Gourley’s punt and recovered the football at the Central 15-yard line. On the next play, Abel Ancelet took an end-around run 15 yards for the touchdown to trim the Bobcats’ lead to 29-21 with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter.
That is when Central played keep away. The Bobcats would keep the football the rest of the game as Central converted two key fourth downs. One conversion was a Long pass to Bryce Johnston on a 4th-and 4, and the other one was a 4th-and 7 pass from Long to Torin McAfee to seal the win.
Central head coach Kevin Lane said, “I wanted to come out with our weapons on offense and give them our first punch and see how they respond. I thought they didn’t respond very well at first and obviously the second half they did. But we held on and ran the clock out.”
Central (2-1) travels to regional opponent Campbell County Friday while West hosts perennial state champion Alcoa in a non-region game.
