Beats Brookfield 33-0

Listen below to Cory Luke, Brookfield head football coach discuss Brookfield’s loss to Centralia

Listen Below to Centralia Head Coach Tyler Forsee discuss the win over Brookfield.

The sky over Miller field was empty the night of September 15, when the Brookfield Bulldogs came to town.

By 9:30 p.m. the sky was still empty, as was the Brookfield side of the scoreboard after they lost to Centralia 33-0.

Centralia is now 4-0 for the season.

For the first 10-minutes it did not look as if the night would end that way.

Brookfield took the Centralia’s kickoff and played ground and pound football all the way to the one-yard line on that first possession.

Those first minutes were the closest they came to scoring.

Centralia’s pile-driver defense stopped them on the one, and Centralia took possession.

“I think our boys played very well in the first half, but we didn’t capitalize,” Brookfield Head Coach Cory Luke said afterward. “Offensively we had two times where we were in first and goal situations and we weren’t able to come up with points in either of those. Defensively, we had the opportunities to force a couple of turnovers, but we let those slip through our fingers.”

Brookfield’s defense held off Centralia till 7:30 in the first when Panther quarterback Cullen Bennet faked a handoff to Jesse Caballero, then pounded through the center of the line for a one-yard touchdown.

Anthony Ford kicked the extra point, making it 7-0.

That inspired Brookfield to stiffen their defense and they held Centralia scoreless for the rest of the half.

That was until 8:13 in the third when Centralia’s Elliott McCoy intercepted Brookfield quarterback Colton Parm’s pass and ran it back 48 yards for a touchdown, making the game 13-0, Centralia.

“It took our offense a little bit of time to get going, but once it did we were pretty balanced,” Centralia Head Football Coach Tyler Forsee said. “I thought Cullen did a pretty good job of distributing the ball around. Our receivers were catching the ball extremely well and were running sharp routes… The offensive line took a little to get going, but the running backs were patient and ran hard and we ended up getting some big plays from them…”

“Big plays” included, after Bennett and McCoy’s first touchdowns

*At 5:18 in the third Bennett completed an 11-yard pass to Rex McCoy for a touchdown, followed by and PAT by Ford

• At 11:14 in the fourth Jesse Caballero made a four-yard touchdown run, followed by another Ford PAT.
• With 2:37 left in the game Bennet rushed 11 yards for the games last touchdown.

The game went from 7-0 at halftime, to 20-0 at the bottom of the third to the 33-0 final.

Next Friday night the 4-0 Centralia Panthers roll north to Monroe City for more Clarence Cannon Conference action against the Monroe City Panthers, who are 3-1 after losing to South Shelby, 59-6 at South Shelby.

For more, see next week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard

Elliott McCoy tucks his interception into his gut and heads for a touchdown

Drayden Conde and Cayden Dunn make a tackle

Cayden Dunn catching a pass

Wyatt Bryson tackling

Ashton Price goes airborne slamming a Bulldog

Anthony Ford catches a pass while being hit.