By: Amber Pennycuff
Centennial, certainly, did not show up empty handed to Independence last night. The student section roared and showed their support by decking out in pink. The Cougars suffered a 31-14 loss to the Eagles last night.
Independence hosted a “pink-out” and both schools competed to see who could raise the most money for the Susan G. Komen foundation. And it was Centennial who came out on top, raising 38,000 dollars to find a cure.
It was the Eagles who were to receive the kick, as the Cougars were ready to strike.
Only 10:59 into the game, Andrew Bunch sailed one right into Dion Simms for a 19-yard touchdown to kick-off the night. The Cougar Nation answered right back as Deon Sanders ran in a 12-yard TD. The extra-point failed, and the Eagles were up 7-6 with 6:24 left in the first quarter.
14.1 seconds left till the second, RaShaan Gaulden made his way to the end zone and bring the Eagles up 14-6.
To add to Gaulden’s big plays, he stunted for a pick-6 with only 5:24 left in the first half. The Eagles were now up 21-6 and closing in on halftime.
A 29-yard field goal by Drake Dormann in the third would give Indy an 18-point advantage with only 5:22 left till the last quarter. Centennial wasn’t going to give in that easily.
The Cougars quarterback Conner Rietveld snuck past the Eagle defense to put a TD on the board and followed a 2-point conversion to give Centennial a 10-point deficit, 24-14.
Emmanuel Hall was in the end zone ready to receive the ball, but Vic Wharton decided otherwise. Wharton picked it off in the end zone to bring a 1st and 10 at the 20-yard line for the Eagles.
To follow up, Wharton ran in for a 62-yard TD for Indy that would close off the final score 31-14 for the night.
After last weeks hard fight against Ravenwood, head coach Brian Rector says they are heading back to the drawing board.
“It was a pretty unproductive first half and even though the points didn’t exactly show the production in the second half,” noted Rector, “I felt like we played with a lot more heart and dedication.”
Centennial will take a bye-week next week and return to take on Dickson County October 25th.
The Williamson Source will keep you updated on the Cougars throughout this 2013 football season on our Football Central Homepage.
