Centennial 24
Brophy 12
By Erik T. Masingill ’12
The Roundup
On Sept. 17, Brophy traveled to Centennial to take on the Coyotes, who are projected to be the best team in the state and 9th in the nation, according to USA Today.
Coming into the game, the Broncos were fresh off of last week’s 44-7 victory against their rival, St. Mary’s.
Both teams carried a 3-0 record going into the matchup, knowing that someone had to lose. In the end, the Broncos fell 24-12.
In the beginning of the first quarter, the Coyotes got off to a jump start. They drove the ball 78 yards to put three on the board with a 25-yard field goal with 7:22 left.
After a futile Brophy drive, Alex Garoutte ’10 punted the ball away. However, the ball skinned a Centennial player, and Brophy was able to recover the pigskin for another possession.
That quickly failed as Chase Knox ’12 tossed it to AJ Steimel ’10, who threw the ball towards the opposite side of the field hoping it would fall into the hands of Brophy running back, Max Leonesio ’10. The plan backfired as it was intercepted on the first play of the drive.
Brophy found themselves losing 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.
After the interception, the first play in the second quarter was a 43-yard touchdown run by the Coyotes. Centennial led 10-0 with 11:51 remaining in the first half.
As Brophy’s defense was about to give up another touchdown, Danny Riggs ’11 forced a fumbled, which he retrieved to save the Broncos from being down by 17.
Brophy still could not find a way through the defense of Centennial as they went three and out. After that, the Coyotes went down the field and scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 38.6 seconds left in the first half. The Broncos were down by 17 points at halftime.
The second half brought Brophy success. Garoutte knocked down a 50-yard field goal to get Brophy on the board with 10:00 remaining in the third quarter.
On the first play of the next drive, Peter Kelly ’10 ran for 69 yards, which gave the Broncos their first touchdown of the night.
However, the extra point attempt was blocked. Brophy was still behind with a score of 17-9 with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
On the next possession, the Bronco “D” came through again with Riggs forcing another fumble and then recovering it at Centennial’s 17-yard line. The Brophy crowd started to go wild with what they were seeing.
However, Knox was sacked and then stripped of the ball on the next play. The Coyotes recovered and ran it 73 yards to the Brophy 10 yard line.
The Coyotes were 10 yards away from a touchdown. Riggs caused his third fumble of the day, this time on a fourth down conversion and he returned it to Centennial’s 47 yard line.
Brophy went into the last quarter with the ball, trailing 17-9.
Garoutte kicked a 37-yard field goal to cut the deficit to only five points with 11:44 remaining. The Brophy “D” held off the offense again, which gave Brophy the ball back.
Kelly showed off his speed again as he took off for 54 yards along with 10 more thanks to a holding penalty against Centennial. However, the mistakes came back to haunt the Broncos as Knox threw another interception, which turned the tide of the game.
After that, Centennial held the ball for about seven minutes by running, which was enough to tire out the Brophy defense and score for their first time in the second half to go up 24-12.
Brophy had the ball with a minute left, but could only pull off one play.
Knox threw another pick to the Coyotes. His statistics for the night were 9 for 26, throwing 85 yards, three interceptions, and 0 touchdowns. Kelly had a total of four yards receiving and 126 yards rushing from three attempts on the ground.
Centennial took two more knees to end the y’s three game win streak this year came to an end. Their next game was against the Chandler Wolves who had the same record as Brophy with 3 wins and 1 loss.
The game was Sept. 25 at Phoenix College Field.
