Cypress Rolls Over Magnolia, 28-7, but Coach Isn’t Celebrating

Cypress scored on its first three possessions Friday night en route to a 28-7 nonleague victory over Magnolia. But Coach John Selbe was anything but pleased with the Centurions, who open league play next week against top-ranked Esperanza.

“The good news is we won the game, but if we make as many mistakes as we did tonight next week, it will get ugly,” Selbe said.

The Centurions (3-2) took the opening kickoff and drove 57 yards in seven plays culminating in Aaron Martinez’s 30-yard touchdown run. Martinez added a five-yard scoring run on Cypress’ next possession to cap a four-play, 65-yard drive.

After Magnolia (0-5) scored its only touchdown on a one-yard run by Dennis McCown to cut the lead to 14-7 with 8:44 left in the half, the Centurions were penalized on seven consecutive plays.

But, on first down and 36, quarterback David Martin found Clint Chavez across the middle and Chavez ran 67 yards for a score, making the score 21-7 at half.

Cypress turned the ball over five times in the second half.

“There was an avalanche of mistakes, but I give Magnolia and their coaches a lot of credit,” Selbe said. “They were ready for us.”

The Centurion defense kept the Sentinels in check most of the game. Wes Merriweather intercepted two of Robert Nichols’ passes and Joey Meza also had an interception.

Nichols failed to complete a pass in the game.