By: David Wells
Centennial head coach Brian Rector will be the first to admit his team is far from perfect. After four weeks of fall camp, the Cougars answered some of the questions coming into the 2013 season.
But with four days to go until they hop on the bus for their season opener in Clarksville, Rector, now in his third year, knows his team still has a few questions left.
“The big thing for us is that we want to be able to perform better in big games,” he said. “Our goal as a program is to get to the third round. That has never happened for us as a school.”
Centennial’s road to a deep playoff run was made much tougher this year with its move up to 6A, though the regular season schedule pits the Cougars against familiar opponents.
The Cougars’ first game will be against the last team they played in 2012, Clarksville Northeast. Last year, the Eagles defeated Centennial 49-34 in the second round, thanks in large part to a four-touchdown performance Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
Fortunately for Centennial, the standout running back is now playing at Tennessee and not Northeast. However, Centennial came into its fall camp missing its own offensive star, former quarterback J.J. Tomlin.
Despite his inexperience (he did not play football last year), senior Billy Lowe won the quarterback competition thanks in large part to his athleticism and his willingness to run the ball.
“We can run the ball more with Billy in there,” Rector said. “If we’re not going to have guys dropping bombs on receivers left and right, we’d rather have a guy who’s a dual threat.”
Starting wide receivers Emmanuel Hall and Bailey Wisniowski can also expect passes from quarterbacks Conner Rietveld and Owen Roth, both of whom are likely to see some reps somewhere down the road.
On both offense and defense, Rector said that Cougars have been struggling with injuries through camp, though he would not comment on who is out for Friday’s game.
Even so, Rector said that the keys to the game remain unaffected.
“This will come down to two things—who can make the fewest amount of turnovers and who can make key plays on defense,” he said.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. in Clarksville.
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