Century Manages to Rally, Ends Up With 16-16 Tie

At the end of Saturday’s game at Santa Ana Stadium, Troy players walked off the field cursing under their breath.

Century players walked off a little less miffed.

Each team walked away tied, 16-16, in their final nonleague game of the season.

Century finds itself in the same position as last year, when it started 1-3-1, and went on to win the Pacific Coast League title.

“We’re not going to sneak up on anyone this year,” Century Coach Bill Brown said. “People are going to be licking their chops. It’s not like we’re ‘poor old Century’ anymore.’ ”

Teams would do well not to look past the Centurions. For the second week in a row, they avoided a loss after falling behind. They defeated Playa del Rey St. Bernard, 20-19, after trailing by 19. Against Troy (3-1-1), they faced a 16-0 deficit.

But they got some help from the Warriors, whose breakdowns on special teams, costly penalties and a defensive letdown, prevented them from winning.

Kicker Chris Blume--who connected on his first four field-goal attempts this season, including a 32-yarder in the second quarter--missed a field goal and an extra point. In addition, the defense allowed two two-point conversions. An offensive pass-interference penalty took Troy out of field-goal range in the game’s final minutes. It might have been the Warriors’ most costly mistake.

Troy was at the nine-yard line with 2 minutes 50 seconds left, but Jim Wise was called for pass interference, nullifying his nine-yard touchdown reception from Brian Logan.

“We got up 16 and we relaxed,” Troy Coach John Turek said. “We got on our heels and they came right back at us. It’s pretty frustrating.”

After Logan threw scoring passes to Nick Ruzzi (26 yards) and Wise (five yards), Century scored on its final possession of the first half, marching 56 yards in 10 plays. It was culminated by Stanley Villanueva’s three-yard, roll-out completion to Jorge Rodriguez. They ran the same play to the other side on the extra-point attempt with 57 seconds left in the first half.

Century used the momentum to score on its opening drive of the second half, going 76 yards--on the ground--in 14 plays, the final when Villanueva shoved the ball across the plane of the goal line from about 18 inches. His completion to Robert Villegas tied the score at 16.