Center Roughrider’s Stadium. November 3, 2017 –
The Center Roughrider’s Varsity Football Team was trailing the state ranked Kilgore Bulldogs, by a 28-0 score, midway through the second quarter of their District 9 4A-1 finale on Friday. But for the second season in a row, they found a way to come back and win, this time at home, by a 49-35 score.
The ‘Rider’s used a 80-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Jayden Hicks to senior receiver JaTerious Evans with 7:28 remaining in the first half to close the gap to 28-7, and a second Hicks to Evans hook-up from 97-yards out to pull to within 28-13 of Kilgore less than four minutes later.
The second half saw Kilgore get on the scoreboard early and extend their lead to 35-13 but Center spooled off 22-unanswered points in the third stanza. The ‘Riders tied the game at 35-35 just 5 seconds into the final period on a Hicks one-yard keeper, after Center recovered a ‘Dogs fumble near the end of the third period. Three fumbles and a missed field goal happered Kilgore during the contest.
Evans added a 40-yard touchdown to his resume with 10:06 left in the game and Center took a 42-35 lead after one of six Alex Lopez extra-point kicks for the night.
Evans wasn’t through and scored on a 1-yard run with just 1:59 left in the game to give the Roughriders the final 49-35 margin of victory. Center now stands at 3-7 for the season and has a conference record of 3-3.
This keeps Center in the playoff hunt as they are the frontrunner for the district’s fourth playoff seed. The ‘Riders have a BYE week for next Friday and will have to see how next week’s games pan out. Two upsets would have to happen before CHS failed to make the post-season. Had they lost, they would have been eliminated from any chance of making the post-season.
