Centennial coach defends decision to keep starters on the field

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Whenever there’s a blowout similar to what occurred Saturday night in the Inland Division semifinal between Corona Centennial and visiting Chaparral, there’s bound to be some complaining about running up the score. Especially when there’s payback involved.

Centennial broke the 60-point barrier with 3 minutes 47 seconds left in the third quarter against the Pumas, and didn’t begin rotating offensive players out of the game until the fourth quarter.

Centennial Coach Matt Logan had an explanation, however.

‘I wanted to play through the third quarter because we haven’t played four quarters since Mater Dei [on Oct. 4],’’ Logan said. ‘It’s getting to the point where you’re worried about not being as sharp, you’re worried about not being in shape, those kind of things because you’re not getting out and getting the actual game time.’’

Sounds like a logical explanation to me. Even so, if I’m a senior starter, I’m not happy about sitting out the last few quarters of my high school career because my coach doesn’t want to hurt somebody else’s feelings.

-- Dan Arritt

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