Centennial continues to make short work of Santiago, 28-0, after 3

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As a sportswriter, it’s always nice when you can get a jump start on your game story. I could have started writing about the winner of this game last Sunday.

Centennial must not be a morning team however, because the top-seeded Huskies only lead Santiago, 28-0, after three quarters of the Inland Division championship game at Home Depot Center.

Heck, by this time last week, they’d already scored 61 against Chaparral.

I think Centennial Coach Matt Logan wants his defensive players to fell good about themselves this week, so he has been giving the ball back to Santiago as soon as possible. The Huskies have scored once on defense and twice on one-play drives following turnovers.

Centennial has actually been stymied a few times today as well. They were stopped on downs at the Shark 15-yard line on their opening drive of the second half. Their kicker’s longest field goal this season is 42 yards, but I think Logan wanted to save his leg for next week against De La Salle, when he should return to kicking PATs every five minutes.

The latest one-play drive came midway through the third quarter, when linebacker Shelly Lyons intercepted a pass and returned it about 10 yards to the Shark 21. On the next play, Matt Scott hit Ricky Marvray on a fade pattern, giving the Huskies a 21-0- lead.

On Santiago’s next drive, Centennial linebacker Jerry Hardeman ran back an interception about 65 yards for his second defensive touchdown in two weeks.

Santiago has done a good job at one aspect of the game, killing the clock. I have to drive to Palm Desert after the game for the Eastern Division final between the host Aztecs and visiting Riverside North and I don’t want to be late.

-- Dan Arritt

-- Image from www.angelsofthesnow.com