Playoff Win Slips Away From Knights

By Mike Blum

Centennial’s first home state playoff game in football in 14 years will likely leave the Knights players and coaches playing a game of “what-if” for almost as long.

The Knights played an outstanding game defensively with the exception of one play against Northgate, but two costly fumbles, some breakdowns in the kicking game and an unproductive final series on offense left them with a 20-14 loss to the visiting Vikings from Newnan.

Centennial finishes the season 8-3, the team’s best record in more than a decade, but that mark easily could be 9-2. With the first round loss, the Knights avoid a second round matchup against Valdosta, the No. 1 team in Class AAAAAA.

The Knights took a 10-0 lead on a Fredy Rivera 33-yard field goal with 18 seconds to play in the first half, with Centennial set to get the ball back to start the third quarter. But the Vikings returned a short kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown to cut their deficit to 10-7 at the half.

Northgate, which runs the wing-T and prefers to keep the ball on the ground, put together a pair of 7-minute drives in the first half, but got no points out of either scoring threat. Northgate ran the ball on the first 11 plays of the game and gained 53 yards, but two incomplete passes and two penalties forced the Vikings to punt.

After the Knights drove 72 yards to score on the first series, Northgate came right back with another 7- minute march, but Centennial’s standout senior linebacker Jacob Gregory stuffed Northgate’s burly fullback at the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-1 from the Knights’ 19.

After forcing a three-and-out by the Vikings on their next possession, the Knights drove 72 yards in the final two minutes to set up Rivera’s field goal.

Centennial’s first half touchdown came on a 5-yard run by senior quarterback Casen Conway, who hit all three of his pass attempts for 61 yards and carried three times for 22 yards on the drive. Conway had a 54-yard score on a screen pass to Cal Dickie called back by a holding penalty, but hit Dickie downfield for 35 yards on the next play.

Conway and Dickie teamed up for a 34-yard gain on another well-designed screen pass to set up Rivera’s field goal, but three incomplete passes stopped the Knights after they reached the Northgate 11. The Knights regained control of the game to start the second half, driving 64 yards for a TD to take a 16- 7 lead (the extra point try failed). Conway put Centennial in scoring position, hitting Austin Williams down the field for 37 yards to the Northgate 14, with the two teaming up for 14 yards and the TD on third-and- 11.

When two-way starter Blaine Mason intercepted a Northgate pass on the next play and returned it to the Vikings’ 40, the Knights were in position to take a decisive lead, but Conway fumbled after picking up a first down inside the Northgate 30.

The Vikings barely picked up a first down on fourth-and-1 from near midfield, with the Centennial defense making its lone mistake of the night on the next play, letting a Northgate receiver get open deep for a 48-yard score.

Leading 16-14, the Knights were driving for what could have been a clinching score when Dickie had the ball ripped away from him with Centennial at the Northgate 34. The Centennial defense forced a punt, but the Vikings sacked Conway on third down and a short punt by the Knights gave the ball back to Northgate at the Knights’ 30 with 4:44 to play. The Vikings pounded the ball inside the 10 before scoring with 1:48 to play to lead 20-14 after a try for two points failed.

Conway attempted four passes but all fell incomplete, with his second throw dropped and his third try – a beautifully thrown deep ball, appearing to go through the hands of his intended receiver. The Vikings pressured him into an incompletion on fourth down to end the Knights’ hopes.

The Knights’ senior quarterback finished the game with 243 yards total offense, slightly under his average during the season. He was 11 of 16 for 190 yards before the Knights’ final series, and added 53 yards rushing. He finished the season with around 2150 yards passing and 750 rushing, accounting for 25 touchdowns.

Dickie had 125 yards rushing and receiving, catching three passes for 84 yards. The Northgate defense limited the Knights to 93 yards rushing, about 180 below Centennial’s season average.

The Centennial defense, which played well for most of the season after a shaky start, allowed Northgate a modest 141 yards on 41 carries, with Gregory leading the way in his final game for the Knights. The Vikings (9-2) added 130 yards passing, completing nine of 13 attempts.

All four North Fulton teams in Region 7-AAAAAA lost in the first round to opponents from 5-AAAAAA. Johns Creek lost at home to Langston Hughes 34-10, Cambridge was defeated by Mays 42-14 and Alpharetta lost 20-13 at Alexander.

Centennial and Johns Creek tied for first in the region, but lost to the No. 3 and 4 teams from Region 5.

Roswell and Blessed Trinity easily won their first round games, while Milton lost 24-10 to Norcross. Mt. Pisgah advanced to the second round in the private school division of Class A with a 35-26 win at Athens Christian.

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