Centerville Tigers lose a tough one against Riesel, 20-15

CHS’ Jonathan Cloud (7) gets a good block from Seth Mahaffey (35) as he breaks for a long run. Sherry’s Shots The Centerville Tigers hosted the Riesel Indians and came up a little short but showed good improvement as they head into district play in three weeks.

The Indians kicked off and Josh Wright returned it to the 35-yardline to give the Tigers good field position. The Tigers gave the ball to their workhorse, Jonathan Cloud, and he picked up 24 yards on two carries but the drive stalled and on 4th down Michael Gwosdz punted to the Indians. After two plays RHS’ Eric Wallace broke loose and weaved his way 89 yards for the first score. Wallace kicked the ex- tra point and the Indians led 7-0 with 6:31 left in the opening quarter.

The Tigers took the kickoff and marched down the field behind strong running by Cloud and accurate passing by quarterback Clay Hardee. Cloud took the ball in from 5 yards out and after Wright added the point after the score was knotted 7-7. The drive went 75 yards on 13 plays.

Cheerleader Jamie Holeman shows a good right arm as she throws a football to the Tiger fans. Sherry’s Shots The tie was broken quickly as Wallace broke on a 57-yard romp for his second touchdown and added the extra point putting the Indians on top again 14-7 with 11:45 left in the second quarter.

The Tigers couldn’t move after receiving the kickoff and the Indians started a drive on their own 13-yardline. Tiger Tyler Peterson made a beautiful interception to end an Indian drive and the Tigers took over at midfield.

The Tigers couldn’t mount a drive and the Indians started a drive on the Tigers’ 45-yard-line. After a couple of 1st downs, Jose Mora caused a fumble which he recovered to thwart the Indian drive. The first half ended with the Indians on top 14-7.

The third quarter was a lot of defense and neither team could score until Trent Stiles of the Indians ran in from the 11-yard-line, but the point extra was wide and the Indians led 20-7 as the third quarter came to an end.

The Tigers could not generate a drive and punted to the Indians midway in the 4th quarter. On 4th down and 4 yards to go the Indians called for a time out and decide on a fake punt, but the runner was stopped for no gain and the Tigers took over at mid- field with 6:58 left in the game. Needing two scores and the clock against them, the Tigers came out throwing and Hardee connected with Seth Mahaffey on a 10-yard strike to bring the Tigers closer at 20-13. After a penalty against the Indians on the extra point try Coach Hardee decided to go for 2 points. Cloud burst through for the 2 points and the Tigers trailed by only 5 with less than two minutes to play. The Tigers tried an onside kick but it was recovered by Alan Hayes of the Indians and the Indians ran out the clock and escaped with a narrow 20-15 victory.

Centerville had 13 first downs, rushed 34 times for 149 yards, and completed 9 of 19 passes for 77 yards. Jonathan Cloud gained 147 yards on 22 carries and Michael Gwosdz caught 4 passes for 34 yards. Seth Mahaffey snagged 3 for 26 yards and 1 touchdown, and Tyler Peterson had 1 interception.

The Tigers host Elkhart on September 25th.