Central, Columbus win titles in GMAC series
When these two teams met on this field at the beginning of the month, it took a last-second field goal for Miami Central to slip past Miami Northwestern in a pandemonium-filled affair.
There were far fewer theatrics on Thursday when the teams met for Round 2 at Traz Powell Stadium.
Just sheer domination from the Central Rockets.
Central jumped out to a two-score lead in the opening five minutes, had a running clock for the entire second half and cruised to a 49-6 win over Northwestern to win the 6A-3A championship in the inaugural GMAC Championship Series.
“We always say we play our best ball around playoff time,” Central coach Roland Smith said. “We knew if we didn’t turn the ball over like we did in the first game [against Northwestern], it wouldn’t have been that close. I just told them, ‘If we clean up the act and keep the ball in our hands, it won’t be close.’ We did that tonight.”
It was Central’s fourth consecutive blowout win, outscoring opponents 191-18 since its last-second win over Northwestern on Oct. 1.
The Rockets have won seven consecutive games since opening the season with back-to-back losses to national powerhouses St. John Bosco and Bishop Gorman — the latter a one-point defeat on a missed field goal in the waning seconds — as they get ready to compete for a Class 5A state title.
As for the contributions on Thursday, where to begin?
Quarterbacks Dylan Tulloch and Keyone Jenkins split reps with Tulloch playing the first and third quarters while Jenkins played the second and fourth quarters.
Tulloch opened scoring with a 2-yard rushing touchdown to cap a fourplay, 57-yard opening drive highlighted by a 40-yard run by Ghana Oboh on the first play from scrimmage. Tulloch also had a 36-yard passing touchdown on a screen pass to Jonathan Harris to extend Central’s lead to 21-0 eight minutes into the game.
Corey Washington returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in between those two scores.
Jenkins led the Rockets to touchdowns on three of his four drives in the second quarter, the first of which he entered midseries. He completed 6of-11 passes for 130 yards in the first half and added a rushing touchdown of his own. His 33-yard pass down the left sideline to Joshisa Trader set up a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Oboh on a direct snap. A 34-yard pass set up a 5-yard touchdown run from Harris. And a 32-yard pass to Trader after an Anthony Rose interception gave the Central offense a short field to set up Jenkins’ 5-yard touchdown run to go into halftime with a 42-6 lead.
Ean Pope added a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown for Central to close scoring.
Northwestern (7-3) scored its only points on a Jamri Ford 75-yard catchand-run with six minutes left in the first half.
Outside of that play, Central dominated at the line of scrimmage. The Rockets sacked Northwestern quarterback Taron Dickens six times and allowed the Bulls to pick up just six first downs — four of which came via penalties.
8A-7A championship:
AMiami Columbus 10, Palmetto 7: A shortrange field goal from Luis Palenzuela with just over four minutes to go gave Columbus (6-3) the edge over Palmetto (6-2) at Nathaniel Traz Powell Stadium on Friday night.
The victory came in the GMAC Inaugural Football Championship Series, and one month after the Explorers lost, 7-3, to the Panthers in a game that finished in controversial fashion following a contentious refereeing decision in the dying seconds.
“We never brought [that game] up,” said Columbus head coach Dave Dunn. “We just said, ‘Hey, listen, we did not play well enough to win last game, but we have got a chance to play well tonight.’ We played well enough to win and we are good.”
Friday’s game did not start out all that well for the Explorers, who wasted a first-quarter interception from senior cornerback Cornelius Wright by throwing one of their own.
Palmetto cornerback Jai-ayviauynn Celestie intercepted a tipped pass from Columbus quarterback Fernando Mendoza and returned it all the way to the end zone to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead with 5:43 left to play in the quarter.
The Explorers tied the score just before halftime thanks to another defensive stop. Sophomore outside linebacker TJ Capers nabbed a pass from Panthers quarterback Kevin Smith with 2:40 left to play in the second quarter, setting up a fourth-down touchdown pass from Mendoza to Tremonte Underwood Jr.
Mendoza initially looked like he was going to be sacked near the center of the line of scrimmage on the play, but he evaded the tackle and scrambled to the right before finding Tremonte Underwood for the tying score.
“We are a defensive-led team,” Dunn said. “We have got a lot of veteran guys there. Alex Trujillo, our defensive coordinator, does a great job. We are always going to rely on our defense.
“We just are not as explosive on offense as we have been in the past. We just have got to not turn the ball over and continually run the ball well. We are going to continue to play great defense, and we should hopefully be all right.”
The Explorers ran the ball effectively in the final quarter, rushing exclusively during a lengthy drive that saw the Panthers’ defense struggle to make stops. The string of carries eventually led to a chip shot from Palenzuela, which gave Columbus its first lead of the game with 4:31 to go.
“As soon as a [running back] looked like he was getting tired, we just put another one in there,” Dunn said. “I think it is tough on a defense if you are getting momentum like that, and you are constantly putting fresh legs on them. I think it would be hard on any defense, and it was the end of the game.”
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