Roughriders Comeback on Wildcats for Second District Win

October 2, 2016 - The Center Roughriders improved their District 9 4A record to 2-0 with a 20-17 road win over the Palestine Wildcats varsity football team last Friday. Center is now 4-2 overall. The ‘Riders have won three straight games. Palestine is 3-3, on the season, and have a 0-2 conference mark. They have lost three consecutive games.

Palestine took a 7-0 lead when quarterback Claude Rodgers connected with Tyler Gray on a slant pass and Gray then sprinted 61 yards for a touchdown with 9:33 left in the first quarter. The drive by the Wildcats had earlier stalled, before the score, as PHS was stopped for a 1-yard gain, on a fourth-and-2 at the Palestine 34-yard line, but Center was called for being offsides, thus keeping the drive alive with a first down.

On the next play from scrimmage a pass by Parks deflected off the hands of receiver Octavius Evans leading to an interception by Palestine's Kameron Hamilton at the Center 35-yard line. Edward Reese later scored from 9 yards out to give Palestine a 14-0 lead with 6:58 remaining in the opening period. Center had no first downs and minus-3 yards in the first quarter.

Center marched 71 yards, on their first drive of the second stanza. Sadarion Walker capped the march with a spinning one-handed catch for a 21-yard touchdown pass from Parks. Center trailed 14-7 after Marcos Lopez added an extra point kick.

Just before halftime Center successfully covered 57 yards on four plays. On the second play, Octavius Evans caught a pass from quarterback Kyle Parks for a 40-yard gain to the Palestine 3-yard line. Parks later ran in for a 1-yard score as time expired to tie up the game at halftime at 14-14.

After each team gave up a fumble, on their opening drives of the second half, Lopez gave Center the lead at 17-14 with a 34-yard field goal with 6:09 left in the third quarter. Palestine countered with a 22-yard field goal by Edgar Ayala with 3:05 left, which tied the game at 17-17, in the third quarter that was set up by a 56-yard run by Irric Deyon.

Palestine had an opportunity to gain momentum when Quinn Tinley intercepted a Parks pass with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. The next Palestine drive stalled at the Center 27-yard line, and rather than have Ayala attempt a 44-yard field goal on a fourth-and-9 a fake was run, but Tyler Gray was stopped for a 3-yard run by Adrian Johnson, who had a huge game with 11 tackles, five of them for losses with four sacks.

Center scored on a 33-yard field goal by Marcos Lopez with 5:42 remaining that was set-up by a 35-yard pass from Kyle Parks to Octavious Evans. This gave CHS their final 20-17 scoring advantage.

Palestine’s next drive ended on its own 49-yard line with 2:15 when Center linebacker Adrian Johnson tackled Irric Deyon for a 2-yard gain, on a pass play, on a fourth-and-4. Palestine got the ball back with 1:12 left in the game, after a 36-yard punt by Lopez pinned the Wildcats at their own 6-yard line.

Center gained 342 total yards on offense. The ‘Riders gained 173 yards rushing and 169 passing.

Kyle Parks has now completed 82 passes on 136 attempts this season for nine touchdowns and 1087 yards.

The ‘Riders next contest is a home game, next Friday, against Chapel Hill on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The CHHS Bulldogs are 1-5 and lost to Kilgore last Friday by a 36-7 margin.