Centerville Tigers fall to Teague Lions in Big Cat fight

^^ Garrett Chase (#1) drags a tackler for a short gain. Sherry’s Shots The Tigers played host to Teague on September 3 and came up on the short end of a 42-21 score. The Tigers received the opening kickoff and were in business on their own 35-yard-line. Jonathan Cloud picked up 25 yards on a 2nd-and 9-down to the Lion 37-yard-line. Ryan Payne slashed for 15 yards, but on 4th-and-3 the Tigers were stopped and the Lions took over on their own 14. Teague netted a couple of first downs but Centerville took over on their 38-yardline. T.J. Robinson gained 7 yards on a sweep around the right side. On 3rd-and-4 quarterback Garrett Chase hit Payne across the middle with a perfect strike for a 56-yard catch and run to put the Tigers ahead 6-0 with 5:42 left in the opening period. The point after was good and the Tigers led 7-0.

Teague took the kickoff and marched down the field and running back Larry Busby ran in from 7 yards and after the extra point the score was knotted 7-7 with 3:46 left in the first quarter. The Tigers went down the field to the Lions 12-yard-line but failed on a 4th down pass and the Lions took over.

>> Kaitlyn Walters leads the Tiger fans in a Tiger cheer. Sherry’s Shots The Lions netted several first downs and on 3rd down quarterback Jake McClain bulled over from the 1-yard -line. After Andres Diaz kicked the extra point the Lions were in front 14-7 with 7:17 left in the 2nd quarter.

The Tigers took the ensuing kickoff but couldn’t move the ball and had to punt. Tiger linebacker Garrett Karr caused a fumble on a hard hit and the Tigers got the ball back. The Tigers returned the favor and on a hard hit coughed up the pigskin on their own 46-yard-line. After a first down, quarterback McClain hit Casey Samuels with a 33- yard strike to put the Lions on top 20-7. After Diaz drilled the extra point the Lions had a 21-7 lead as the first half came to a close.

Ryan Payne (#28) appears to do a headstand after being tackled. Sherry’s Shots In the second half Chase hit Seth Mahaffey with a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 13-21 with 3:54 left in the third quarter. The point attempt after failed. The Tigers kicked off and on the first play McClain found Busby open on a 42-yard TD pass but this time the extra point failed and the Lions led 27- 13 with 3:38 left in the third quarter. The Tigers wouldn’t quit and drove down the field and scored on a 3-yard run by Payne to trail 21-27 with 11:00 left in the game.

The Tigers tried an onside kick but the Lions recovered and went down the field and scored to take a 35- 21 lead with 8:06 left on the clock. The Tigers fumbled the kickoff and the Lions were in business again. The Lions went down the field and on a 4th-and-2 Busby plunged over to make the final score 42-21.

Centerville mini cheerleader Lauren Lee leads the crowd in a cheer. Sherry The Tigers were able to move the ball but a few big plays sealed their fate.

After the game Tiger Coach Hardee said “This is a learning experience for our team and we should be all right when district play comes around in a few weeks”.

The Tigers rushed 54 times for 222 yards for a 4.1 yards per carry. Quarterback Garrett Chase completed 3-10 for 102 yards. The Tigers had 16 first downs. One telling statistic was that the Tigers fumbled 3 times and lost all three. Sophomore running back Ryan Payne broke for several long gains. Jonathan Cloud also picked up good yardage on the ground.

The Tigers travel to Elkhart for a non-district encounter on September 10th.