Riders run away from Bears 70-28

Every team wants a district championship, but for teams sharing a district with the Carthage Bulldogs, the best they’ve achieved in a decade is second. Since the Riders loss to the Bulldogs a couple of weeks ago, second place has been the goal.

Setting the Stage

Second seed would pit the Riders against the opposing district’s third seed in the first round of playoffs. And that team was anticipated to be the Liberty-Eylau Leopards. To get that done going into last week’s games, Center would need to beat the Bears, then root for heavily favored Van to beat the Bullard Panthers, or for heavily favored Rusk to lose against the Canton Eagles—which would “never happen.”

“Our fate isn’t guaranteed yet,” Coach Meeks said in the pregame interview. “Lots will be decided tonight, especially since all our district games have been moved up to Thursday (for the second week in a row).”

First Things First

The only thing that went as planned was Center’s game. Heavily favored against the Bears, the Riders won by even more than predicted, taking a 70-28 victory.

Center won the toss and deferred, giving the Bears the opening “Shelby Savings Bank kick-off.” After a couple of first downs, they faced 4th and 9 near midfield where Center stopped an attempted fake punt for a one-yard gain.

That’s when the deluge of Roughrider first quarter points began. Center ran six plays, four of them to Kaden Dixon including his 1-yd TD at the 8:16 mark. Score 7-0.

After two Bear first downs, Wyatt Emerson caused a fumble on 4th down and short. Center went 4-and-out, but Brownsboro fumbled the punt to the Riders on the 3-yard line. On the next play, ‘Cash’ Cross hit a tasty fade route to ‘Bo-Bo’ Gibson at the 4:10 mark. Score 14-0.

After one Bear first down, they punted to the Roughriders. Center ran a seven-play drive ending with Dixon’s three-yard touchdown that went ten yards after he was pushed back, broke five Bear tackles, then scored at the 2:32 mark. Score 21-0.

On the second play of the next drive, Jamarrion ‘Mar-Mar’ Evans intercepted a Brownsboro pass at the 45-yard line. On the next play, Cross threw to Evans to the 8-yard line and two plays later, Dixon scored his third touchdown at the 56-second mark.

Score 28-0. Remember—56 seconds left. Before the quarter ended, Brownsboro’s senior running back broke a long run for 79 yards; the 2-point conversion was good to make it 28-8. Then the Riders took the kickoff and on the first play, hit a 70-yard TD pass to ‘Mar-Mar.’ A total of 22 points scored in 56 seconds. The quarter ended 35-8.

Second Quarter

The second quarter was equally full of scoring. The Riders kicked to the Bears and recovered their fumble. On the next play, the Riders scored again on a 16-yard Timothy Davis run.

Score 42-8. Brownsboro responded with the longest drive of the game from either team in both yards and time, using seven minutes to get to the Rider three-yard line. Center held on four downs and got the ball back.

That’s when Stephen Shires in the broadcast booth made an unbelievable prediction. “Everyone in the stadium knows our running back is going to get the ball,” Shires said. “If Dixon takes it 97 yards, I’m gonna award it the ‘Play of the Game’ right now.”

And Dixon took it 97 yards at the 3:33 mark. This was about the point when officials began running the clock.

The halftime score was Center 49, Brownsboro 8.

Halftime

The halftime show featured two state qualifying bands. Center, the 10th-place state finalist, performed first with its huge 160-plus marchers followed by the CHS Chaparrals. Both units got hardy applause from the Brownsboro faithful.

Brownsboro, the 9th-place state finalist, performed next with a band half Center’s size but with a precision drill that drew enthusiastic applause from the Center fans.

But their drill team, The Golden Girls, stole the show when the senior dancers each did the splits as they were introduced alongside their dads who also did some version of the splits as they were introduced. Then the dads danced the routine with the girls. The Brownsboro drill team director said the father-daughter drill is a time-honored tradition.

Third Quarter

The Roughriders got the ball to begin the second half. Their first unit went 75 yards with three first downs, ending with a 35-yard TD, the third touchdown reception of the night for Evans. Score 56-8 early third quarter, and that was it for the Rider’s offense scoring.

Brownsboro got another big run for its second score with 9:13 to go in the quarter but their 2-point conversion fell short.

Score 56-14.

On the ensuing kick-off, Gibson took the return 75 yards for the team’s ninth touchdown. Score 63-14.

On the next possession, Brownsboro faced “4th and forever” from their eleven. The snap to the punter was fumbled. Gibson picked it up and scored another special teams touchdown.

Score 70-14. Brownsboro took a 74-yard touchdown run to the house on the second play of the next series at the 3:21 mark. The 2-point conversion was good, and the third quarter score was 70-22.

Fourth Quarter

Each team put together short drives and punts. With about three minutes left, Brownsboro engineered a good drive with two first downs and some long gains. The third first down came on a long Brownsboro run. The clock— which had been running steadily without stopping for most of the quarter—ran to zero as the Bear runner was stopped at the two.

Despite that, the officials let them line up again for one more play and they scored making the final score 70-28.

“Do you remember a game where a team scored after the game,” one of the cheerleaders asked after the game? The answer: no.

The Aftermath

With the Riders getting their needed victory, attention turned to Van versus Bullard where Bullard was leading 14-7.

“I’m surprised Van is struggling like that with Bullard,” Coach Meeks said in the postgame interview. “They have a lot to play for, so I figured they’d take care of business.”

Bullard and Van were tied 28-28 with less than two minutes left. A Van loss (and a Rusk win) would send Center to the playoffs as the third seed. Fortunately, heavily favored Van pulled off the victory in the last minute 35-28, securing the second seed for the Riders.

But even more amazing, the heavily favored Rusk Eagles lost to the Canton Eagles 35-34, rendering the Van game irrelevant.

“Crazy times in District 8,” Shires would say. “We thought Van would run away from Bullard, and a Rusk loss to Canton? That would never happen!”

The Center Motor Company Player of the Game went to the entire Roughrider offensive line for the huge number of rushing yards by Dixon and Davis.

First Round of Playoffs

Dixon, Davis and company will now face Liberty-Eylau Friday night at 7:30 in Hallsville’s Bobcat Stadium in the first round of playoffs.