EMPIRE LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Wallace Leads Century Past Cypress, 24-0

Century Coach Bill Brown readily admits his team was falling apart earlier this season. Thursday night, Century put it all together with a 24-0 victory over Cypress at Western High, and remained in the Empire League race.

Junior running back Beau Wallace rushed for 120 yards to pace Century (4-4, 2-1). Cypress opened the scoring on a one-yard run by Stanley Villanueva late in the first quarter, then added to the lead on Robert Villegas’ 11-yard run.

The Century defense held Cypress (2-6, 0-3) to three first downs in the first half and only 71 net yards, most of those coming on Greg Cleave’s 49-yard run on the last play of the half.

“Two weeks ago, we were in shambles,” Brown said. “But we’re not making the same mistakes now. Our coaching staff rebuilt our defense and fixed some areas where we had holes. They did an outstanding job. We shut them down tonight.”

Century, playing Cypress for the first time in the school’s history, stayed on the ground and controlled the line of scrimmage behind Wallace and Villegas, who gained 75 yards in eight carries.

Villanueva, the Century quarterback, engineered the only touchdown of the second half, a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jorge Rodriguez midway through the third quarter. Ignacio Vega accounted for Century’s other score, a 25-yard field goal.

Cleave led the Cypress offense, gaining 90 yards in 10 carries.