Patience with running game pays off for Centennial in win over Shadow Ridge

By Paul Delos Santos

Friday, Nov. 15, 2013 | 11:42 p.m.

Things might have gotten off slowly for Centennial against Shadow Ridge, but the Bulldogs weren’t about to let their streak of playoff victories come to an end.

Centennial reeled off 36 unanswered points to pull away with a 50-13 victory over Shadow Ridge in the Sunset Region quarterfinals. The Bulldogs advanced to the region's semifinals for the fourth consecutive year, after missing the postseason in the eight years prior.

“We set high expectations every year, and the kids are buying into it,” Centennial coach Leon Evans said.

C.J. Thomson threw for 116 yards on 6-for-11 passing with three touchdowns. Running back Lantz Worthington chimed in with 123 yards of total offense (61 receiving and 62 rushing) and two touchdowns.

But initially, it wasn’t easy for the Bulldogs (6-4) against the Mustangs (5-5).

Shadow Ridge took an early 3-0 lead after Centennial struggled to move the ball. Evans said two of Centennial’s first four plays went for negative yardage.

Evans, though, didn’t panic. He stuck with his team’s game plan to run the ball to set up its offense. Once it began working, albeit slowly with small gains of three to four yards, the Bulldogs began rolling the snowball downhill.

“We settled down,” Evans said. “Everything is based off our running game. … We didn’t try to force the ball down the field.”

Centennial draws Palo Verde in the Sunset Regional semifinals. The two teams met earlier this season with Palo Verde winning 22-13.

“Palo is a great football team,” Evans said. “That’s one of the top programs in the city for quite some time. They’re going to show up, and we’ve got match their intensity.”

Paul Delos Santos can be reached at 990-2416 or mail to [email protected]. Follow Paul on Twitter at twitter.com/pauliedelos.