P.B. Central defense smothers Wellington

WELLINGTON — Palm Beach Central forced nine turnovers and had seven sacks to break open a tight game and thrash visiting Wellington 52-10 in the District 9-8A opener for both teams on Friday night.

The host Broncos (3-1, 1-0) converted seven of the turnovers into scores and junior quarterback RJ Douriet was the beneficiary as he threw for 180 yards and four touchdowns. Junior receiver Bryan Robinson caught TD passes of 58 and 33 yards as the Broncos retained the Wellington Cup, which goes to the winner of the rivalry game.

Palm Beach Central senior Gen’tarius Oliver caught one TD for 27 yards and had a 28-yard punt return for a score as the Broncos rallied from an early 10-7 deficit. It marked the first time since a seasonopening 14-0 loss to Atlantic where Central trailed.

“We said there are three phases to the game, offense, defense and special teams, and the boys came out to play tonight,” Palm Beach Central coach Tino Ierulli. “I am very proud of their performance…we learned a lot of things from our first loss to Atlantic. The kids were defeated and it was like they didn’t know how to play from behind. That first week really taught us a lot.”

Palm Beach Central capitalized on two fumble recoveries late in the first half to take a 24-10 halftime lead. Donavan Hoilette recovered a fumble following a sack of Austin Wallace at the Wolverines’ 19-yard line. The Broncos were unable to move the ball and Tanner Nairn kicked a 32-yard field goal for a 17-10 lead.

On the next Wellington drive, Blaine Anderson recovered a fumble on the Broncos’ 40 and Palm Beach Central wasted little time in extending the advantage to 24-10 as De’Angelo Pompey took a swing pass from Douriet and went 60 yards for the score with 49.4 seconds remaining in the half.

Earlier, Wellington’s Mark-Antony Richards had scored on a 65-yard run to give Wellington (1-3, 0-1) a 10-7 lead with 10:12 remaining in the half before the Broncos took advantage of a partially blocked punt that gave them the ball on the Wellington 27. One play later, Douriet found Oliver with a 27-yard scoring toss, and the Broncos had the lead for good at 14-10 with 5:46 left in the half.