Week 1 kicked off a new season for schools around the state. Centennial, which had already played in Zero Week, handed Apollo a 28-7 season-opening loss.
It was a slow start for No. 2 Peoria Centennial, after Glendale Apollo’s defense came out fighting, forcing four turnovers in the first half and one in the third quarter.
But Centennial would battle back for a 28-7 win in a 5A Conference game in Peoria on Friday night.
And Centennial’s defense put up a battle of its own. With Apollo driving, senior linebacker Marcus Wakeham got to Apollo quarterback Taz Middleton to record his first sack of the game.
Centennial (1-1) took over on its 30yard line and converted three straight first downs, before junior running back Zidane Thomas fumbled on a run up the middle, turning the ball over to Apollo.
Apollo (0-1) was forced to punt on fourth-and-11 from its 35-yard line. And Thomas was headed back the other way for Centennial with less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter. He plowed over four Apollo tacklers before junior linebacker Jaguar Mixson brought him down.
Centennial lined up to punt on fourthand-8 from the 42-yard line, but failed to get the first down.
Late in the second quarter, Centennial’s Mikah Dossie came up with the stop on Trevor Clark. Clark answered back five plays later, after he recovered a fumble and took it 70 yards the other way for an Apollo touchdown and the 7-0 lead at the half.
Centennial coach Richard Taylor led the team into the locker room to make adjustments.
“We talked about it in the locker room and got all of our mistakes fixed,” Centennial’s Wakeham said. “They really surprised us in the beginning and our offense turning the ball over.”
Centennial opened the second half with quarterback Ruben Beltran getting picked off by Frank Sanchez.
But junior Jordan Ware kept Apollo at bay with a sack on Middleton, forcing them to punt.
Beltran fumbled again in the third, but recovered. And with less than four minutes in the quarter, Apollo took over. Centennial’s defense came up big again, stopping Apollo on fourth-and-4.
Centennial’s Taylor Fiame added a 4yard touchdown, but a missed extra point put Centennial behind 7-6. Wakeham scored on first-and-goal to go ahead 14-7. Fiame added another halfway through the fourth, and Thomas put up an 89-yard touchdown run to seal the win.