PREP FOOTBALL: Central vaults into region title contention with win over Opelika

To view a photo slideshow of this game, click here.

PHENIX CITY — In a matchup of two offenses that are capable of putting up some pretty gaudy numbers, Central’s defense won the day.

The Red Devils surrendered 237 yards to Opelika — with more than a third of those coming on one play — and forced three turnovers in a 21-7 win Friday that solidified their legitimacy as region title contenders and all but ended Opelika’s chances.

Central (6-0, 4-0) became the first team this season to hold Bulldogs running back Corey Grant to less than 100 yards.

In fact, the Red Devils made Grant almost non-existent. He rushed eight times for 14 yards and caught four passes for 29 yards.

“Our defensive coaches had a good game plan as far as bottling him up and not letting him get free,” Central coach Ron Nelson said. “The thing about it, you can get out of place one time with him, and he’s going all the way.”

The Red Devils never let Grant get free and even stopped him for a loss on six of his 12 touches.

The only score for Opelika (4-2, 2-2) — and 81 of its yards — came on somewhat of a fluke.

On a third-and-11 from the Bulldogs’ 19, Braden Rogers lofted a pass into double coverage that glanced off defensive back Christian Butler’s hands and into the hands of Terrance Spinks, who took it the rest of the way to cut the Central lead to 14-7 with 1:10 to go in the third quarter.

“That’s the only mistake we made all night long,” Nelson said. “The thing that I was proud of was our offense, after that, responded to the call, getting that thing back.”

Central squelched all thoughts of a comeback on the next drive, going 71 yards on 13 plays in 6:15 to extend its lead back to 14 with less than seven minutes to play.

The Red Devils ground it out with Deon Hill (nine rushes for 46 yards on the drive) and timely passes from Darren Daniel (3-for-3 for 27 yards) and cashed it in with a 13-yard pass from Daniel to T.J. Rice.

Opelika tried to come back, but a Bronterrious Jakes interception on a fourth down near midfield sealed the win.

“We just couldn’t sustain drives. We had too many negative plays,” Opelika coach Brian Blackmon said. “This game boiled down to an inability to run the ball by us and an inability to stop the run by us.”

Central got on the board first with a 20-yard run by Hill in the second quarter, then extended its lead with a 5-yard score on an end around by Deonte Swinton near the end of the third quarter.

From the second half on, it was mostly Hill and Cordary Clark-Allen grinding it out in 4- and 5-yard increments.

Hill finished with 109 yards on 28 carries — with 16 for 63 coming in the second half — and Clark-Allen added 50 yards on 13 carries spelling Hill.

Central finished with 190 rushing yards, with 110 coming in the second half, and held the ball for 15 minutes after intermission.

“I think it was the other guys that played around me,” Hill said. “We’ve got too many weapons to key on one person.”

The Red Devils intercepted Rogers twice — he finished 11-of-17 for 152 yards — and also took advantage of a botched snap on a punt, with Yurmon Barnes picking it up and returning it to the Opelika 32 to set up their second score.

“We just did a lot of things wrong today,” Blackmon said.

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