The Central Bulldogs were looking for their first win of the season in their Homecoming game on Thursday when the Lighthouse Christian Chargers came to town.
Central was on track to capture that win and had every intention to do so. Not only did the Bulldogs enjoy their first lead of the season (briefly), but they also posted a season-high point total in Thursday’s game.
In the end, though, Lighthouse Christian proved to be too much. The Chargers went on to win the game 48-32.
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The Chargers saw an advantage early on and made the most of it. For a majority of the game, Lighthouse went to a “heavy” offense with two tight ends, three running backs and quarterback Bryant Taylor in the shotgun.
On their second possession of the game, they Chargers went to this formation and ran the quarterback keeper five straight times as Taylor punched it into the end zone to go up 8-0.
Taylor carried the ball 42 times for 152 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns.
“If it works, it works,” said Taylor when asked about the offensive set. “I just like W’s. I’ll give up my passing yards for any W, even though Haaken [Friend] showed up, Josh [Street] showed up. They caught some balls and they helped us out when we needed it. But if it works, it works. The O-line did a fantastic job keeping them off me.”
“It was just something that we thought we could control,” said Lighthouse coach Rian Bess. “We obviously love passing the ball… but we just got in a situation where we felt like we could get three yards at a time and if we could do that then we’re on our game plan.”
Taylor also added 187 passing yards and threw a touchdown to Haaken Friend. Friend finished with three catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.
Lighthouse running back Braeden Mathews chipped in with a cool 100 rushing yards and a touchdown as well.
Central gave the Chargers a competitive game nonetheless.
The Bulldogs were averaging just seven points per game entering Thursday’s contest. The 32 points they posted on the scoreboard is certainly a bright spot for first-year coach Sean Nevills and his team.
But the brightest spot may be Central’s freshman running back Montrey White. The tailback rushed for a whopping 278 yards on 24 carries and found the end zone four times on Thursday, including a 97-yard sprint to go up 14-8 early in the second quarter – the team’s first lead in any game this season.
“We didn’t think they would put up that many points on us,” said Bess. “They’ve got some talent. That running back is a freshman. That’s amazing. And they got a new coach and that’s always a difficult situation coming in and having to rebuild. So Sean [Nevills] has done a good job.”
The homeschooled Lighthouse Christian Chargers improve to 5-2. They’ll travel to play Tipton on Friday, Oct. 7. Central will look to break into the win column next week as they host Clinton.
The Lighthouse quarterback hopes he won’t have to rush over 40 times again next week in the game against Tipton.
“I feel it right now,” said Taylor. “I’m going to go home, ice down and do the best I can to get ready for next week.”
