Revenge Is a Dish Best Served in the Playoffs
Cougars. Bruins. Grudge match. Be there, be there, be there.
Centennial (10-1) hosts Brentwood (6-5) this Friday, Friday, Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Brentwood beat Memphis Central 55-7 (beat is probably not strong enough of a word for the drubbing the Bruins laid down). And Centennial, with helpful heroics from Tyrel Dodson, clawed back to win 20-14 against Southwind.
(For a look at all the playoff match-ups on Friday check out our Playoff Bracket.)
Now here the two Region 7 teams face each other for the second time this year.
On Oct. 9, Brentwood lost to the visiting Cougars 24-10.
Centennial held the Bruins to just 13 yards rushing on 17 attempts, while the Cougar defense harassed quarterback Carson Croy all night, who threw two picks and completed less than half his throws (13 for 27 for 234 yards). Centennial, led by Mondu Sawyers, ran for 167 yards. Centennial dominated on special teams, too, returning a blocked punt for a touchdown.
So Brentwood might look like an underdog here, but lately the Bruins have really caught fire. After cracking 30 points just once all year, in the past two weeks Brentwood lit Clarskville up for 42 and Memphis Central for 52, both wins. On defense, too, the Bruins put the damper down: Clarksville and Memphis Central combined scored 17 points.
Brentwood will need that offense against the vaunted Cougar D. Centennial allows an average of 14 points per game,
Coaches’ Take
Here is what Centennial head coach Brian Rector had to say abobut the game:
Brentwood has improved every week as a team, they execute well and are blocking much better. I just think they are really well coached and the extra time in the system they are using is making headway for sure.
Obviously it is the same plays, sets, etc. as the last time we played them, but the difference is the execution. They are executing better, in my opinion and that makes a big difference in what they are trying to do. They have really been scoring in bunches the last few games and we will have our hands full Friday night.
This is what Brentwood coach Ron Crawford had to say:
Points are hard to come by against Centennial, even first downs. They are committed to stopping the run and will not move out of their front regardless of how the offense deploys. We have to do a better job of executing in the run game, but they make it tough. Due to the amount of man to man coverage they play we will have to execute in the passing game and do more than just take deep shots. Obviously we have a lot of respect for Dodson and he is a really good player, but their entire defense is very good: they help him be better.
Defensively, we think both Dodson and Mondu Sawyers are good and each has a different skill set. Their offensive line is big and athletic and they have the ability to throw the deep ball as well. We must get off the field in third down situations, in our last game at times we struggled to do that. We have to execute at a higher level than we did during our regular season meeting.
They won the kicking game last meeting, blocking a punt for a TD and recovering an onside kick. We can’t allow that to happen if we are to have any chance of being successful.
Follow the game live on our Scoreboard on Friday night.
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