Center Grove spoils West’s coaching debut at Warren Central
By CRAIG DRAGASH
ISL Correspondent
Eric Moore knows the history of failure his Center Grove program has had at Warren Central.
“Never won here, never” said Moore, still trying to grasp the fact that his Trojans defeated the Warriors 21-10 on Friday night to spoil Jayson West’s debut as Warren Central’s coach.
Center Grove scored three touchdowns in the first half using its usual variety of gadget plays and misdirection on offense, and its defense held on in the end.
West led Lawrence Central to an undefeated season and a state title a year ago. It was his turn to watch someone celebrate.
“This is awesome,” Moore said. “We’ve been to semistates, won the state championship, but to finally win on this field, this is awesome.”
“I challenged my defense at the half, I told them I hung 21 on them in the first half, now it’s your job to hold them in the second half, and they did,” Moore said. “Credit goes to my new defensive coordinator, Chad Daniels.”
Center Grove opened the game with a pooch kick that a Warrior up back caught at his 42-yard line while being drilled by a Trojan defender. The Warrior held onto the ball however, and the offense, led by senior Jeff George, went on a 11-play drive that resulted in a 28-yard field goal by Max Hernandez. Ten of the 11 plays were runs.
The Trojans answered with an 80-yard drive that resulted in a 3-yard touchdown run by junior running back Max Norris. Center Grove converted fake punt conversion from its 28-yard line when senior defensive lineman Dillon Dallas took the direct snap as the up back in punt formation. The drive covered 14 plays in 80 yards.
Center Grove then executed another pooch kick that this time resulted in a recovery for the Trojans, and three plays later, Luke Calvert hit Matt O’Brien for a 26-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 14-3.
Later in the second quarter, after a Center Grove drive stalled, senior Seth Northern boomed a punt 75 yards that was downed by the Trojans at the Warriors’ 11-yard line. Two plays later, Tirone Young broke free for a 74-yard scoring run that cut Center Grove’s lead to 14-10.
The dagger for Warren Central came as time was running down in the second quarter with Center Grove facing a fourth-and-two from the Warren 23-yard line. Calvert picked up a bad shotgun snap and found senior Lane Morris, who ran the ball into the end zone to give Center Grove a 21-10 lead 30 seconds before halftime.
“That play was huge,” West, whose team was defeated in his debut as the head coach of the Warriors. “Without that play, it’s a one score game going into halftime.”
Both defenses were the dominant force in the second half, as neither team scored after halftime. And Warren Central never crossed into Center Grove territory in the second half. “We had some terrible first down plays in the second half that forced us into passing situations, and give them credit, they held us in the second half.”
NOTE: The Center Grove captains brought out the #12 jersey to the pregame coin toss, and the team again held the same jersey up in the post-game huddle.
“Jersey #12 belongs to Tyler Genneken, who died of leukemia in sixth grade”, said Moore. “These seniors break down every drill with “Tyler” even to this day. He’s on my roster, that’s the least I could do for his family.”
