Central Rolls Past East Ridge With Big Second Half

Tempers Flare During Post-Game Handshake, But No Blows Were Thrown

  • Saturday, October 7, 2017
  • John Hunt
Central quarterback Jaheim Jones (7) picks his way through the East Ridge defense Friday night at Raymond James Stadium as Pioneer defensive back Keanu Johnson (6) sets to make the tackle. The Purple Pounders used a strong second half to clobber East Ridge by 41-6.
Central quarterback Jaheim Jones (7) picks his way through the East Ridge defense Friday night at Raymond James Stadium as Pioneer defensive back Keanu Johnson (6) sets to make the tackle. The Purple Pounders used a strong second half to clobber East Ridge by 41-6.
photo by Dennis Norwood

It got a little bit ugly at Raymond James Stadium late Friday night after the visiting Central Purple Pounders had rolled past East Ridge by a 41-6 final, but Central went home at 5-2 overall and 4-0 in Region 2-4A while East Ridge is now 5-2 overall and 1-2 in region play.

Emotions for both teams were on edge when the final horn sounded and words were exchanged by assistant coaches during the post-game handshake.  No blows were exchanged, but matters got a little touchy as the East Ridge Police were called to help restore order.

It was an extremely physical game from the opening kickoff and a more than normal penalty flags thrown.  Central was flagged 15 times for 147 yards while East Ridge had 11 flags for 123 yards.

The Pioneers had opened the season with five straight wins, but that streak came to a halt in a 49-7 blowout at Anderson County last Friday.  Add this week’s romp by the Pounders and one could see why the Pioneers weren’t feeling real good at the end.

“I’m really pleased with our effort, but our execution could have been better at times,” said Central coach Cortney Braswell following the game.

“I thought quarterback Jaheim Jones played well at times as he hit some big throws down the field he’s missed in recent weeks, but we just try to maximize our effort on every play and not worry what the scoreboard says.  It’s our job to score when possible and the other team’s job to stop us.

“I know that tempers flared a little at the end, but both teams were competing hard and that’s just football.  I’ve been on the other end of games like this and other teams haven’t had any trouble scoring when they had big leads,” Braswell added.

East Ridge coach Tim James certainly wasn’t going to comment publicly about the officiating, but he earned a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call in the second half after voicing his opinion one time too many.

“The bottom line is we didn’t play well enough to win as we made too many mistakes,” he said later.

“It got ugly toward the end in more ways than one and we lost our composure.  We have to learn how to control ourselves better than that, but I haven’t seen anything like this in my 27 years of coaching.

“At times, I saw flashes of greatness and we moved the ball well at times, but we just couldn’t stick it in the end zone.  Now we have to get ready for Sequoyah next week,” he concluded.

Michael McGhee scored two of his three touchdowns in the first quarter as Central took control early.  The score was 16-0 at the break after Jalen Boykin was tacked in the end zone for a safety after East Ridge had stopped Central at the 1.

The Pounders then added their third TD on the second play of the second half when quarterback Jones found a wide-open TJ Payne down the right side for an 88-yard TD play.

East Ridge quarterback Eric Bennett scored the only touchdown for the Pioneers with 15 seconds left in the third period to get the hosts within 22-6, but Central then scored three more times in the final stanza to turn a close game into a blowout.

Central, averaging 40 points per game, finished the evening with 472 total yards, including 158 on the ground and another 314 through the air after Jones completed 13 of 23 pass attempts.

East Ridge finished with 236 total yards after gaining only 89 yards in the first half. 

Bennett completed 17 of 30 passes for 159 yards while the Pioneer running game only had 77 yards on 22 carries.

Trey Owten was Central’s leading receiver with five catches for 76 yards while Andrew Bingham had 52 yards on two grabs and McGhee 41 yards on one.  McDaniel only had one reception, but it went the distance for 88 yards.

McGhee led Central running backs with 49 yards on a dozen trips while Vincent McColley followed with 38 yards on three carries, including TD runs of 1 and 19 yards in the fourth quarter.

Kashawn Cosey was the leading receiver for East Ridge with five catches for 69 yards, all in the second half.  Eli King had 42 yards on three catches while Alonzo Russell had four catches for 21 yards.

Boykin was the leading rusher for East Ridge with 28 yards on seven carries.  Kobey Jackson had 27 yards on four trips while Bennett gained 20 yards on six rushes.

Defensively, Jay Jones had a pair of interceptions for Central while McColley had one.  Alex Moore had a fumble recovery for East Ridge.

Central finished with 20 first downs to 14 for the Pioneers.

East Ridge will host Sequoyah on Thursday while Central will be at home to host Anderson County for first place in the Region.

CENTRAL  14  2  6  19  --  41

EAST RIDGE  0  0  6  0  --  6

CEN – Michael McGhee 8 run (pass failed), 9:45 left in first;

CEN – McGhee 41 pass from Jaheim Jones (McGhee run), 3:45 left in first;

CEN – safety when East Ridge’s Jalen Boykin tackled in end zone, 5:11 left in second;

CEN –TJ Payne 88 pass from Jones (run failed), 8:56 left in third;

ER – Eric Bennett 1 run (pass failed), 0:15.7 left in third;

CEN – Vincent McColley 5 run (pass failed), 7:23 left in fourth;

CEN – McGhee 1 run (Andrew Bingham kick), 4:58 left in fourth;

CEN – McColley 19 run (kick failed), 1:35 left in fourth.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

 

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