Centerburg ignites early, crushes unbeaten Mount Gilead 46-0 in KMAC showdown

Energy and effort. That’s what Centerburg football coach Andy Colella and his staff have been preaching to the Trojans all season. The team has been following suit most of the year, but Friday night, they took it to a whole new level.

The Trojans came out playing like their hair was on fire, exploding for 32 points in the opening quarter, and cruised to a 46-0 Knox Morrow Athletic Conference victory over previously undefeated Mount Gilead.

“It was what we talked about. Against a team that likes to run the ball as much as they (the Indians) do, that’s what you have to do. And we’ve been doing that every week, for the last several weeks, we get out to an early lead like that,” Colella said. “We had a lot of energy today and a lot of effort and it kind of snowballed from there. That’s what we’ve been trying to tell the kids is that when you play with that kind of energy and effort, like they’re good enough to do that. They’ve just got to keep believing and working and move on to the next one.”

Centerburg (6-1 overall, 4-0 KMAC) came out of the gate like a team possessed, marching right down the field on an Indian squad that had allowed more than one score just once this season. After a couple of penalties wiped out touchdowns, the Trojans got one to count when quarterback Blane Ball hooked up with Hayden Love for a 24-yard TD strike.

After a quick three-and-out by the defense, Centerburg added another score on a 28-yard run by Miles Marshall.

A fumble on the ensuing kickoff set the Trojans up for another score – this time a 1-yard run by Shawn Carter – and the rout was on. Centerburg added a fourth score in the first quarter when Ball hit Marshall on an 11-yard pass with just 30 ticks left.

“I’m going place that one on me. We prepared them all week, but I think they got a little starstruck, and Centerburg was ready to roll. We didn’t answer the bell. By the time we were ready to answer the bell, we were already hurting,” said Mount Gilead coach Mike Reid. “Give credit to coach Colella, his staff and those kids over there. They have a nice football team. They got after it and we didn’t quite play as well as we could have. That’s not to take away from them, they played extremely well. They put us in a lot of bad spots.”

The Trojans’ balance offensively has been a handful for opposing defenses all season and Friday was no different. They racked up 209 yards rushing and added another 159 through the air.

“We’ve been doing the same stuff – just mixing it up and trying to get everybody involved. That’s a lot to defend. And then defending the whole field that was kind of our game plan. Moving things around and in different formations. I think it makes it pretty difficult,” Colella said.

Having all that talent at the skill positions is tough enough, but Reid felt it was the beef up front that make the Trojans extremely tough to stop.

“They’re good up front. I’m proud of our guys up front, but they won the battle up front tonight. They controlled both the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage tonight,” Reid said.

Centerburg’s defense also did a number on the Indians (6-1, 3-1), holding them to just 142 yards of offense, all on the ground that a good portion came on the final drive that was stopped near the goal line as time expired.

“(Our defense was) Outstanding,” Colella said. “We had a different personnel group in there. I think that had a large part of it. They played with a lot of effort and getting to the ball, it was really good defense.

“That was awesome there at the end because there was a lot of younger guys in there and to be able to hold them out of there was pretty cool. The younger kids were super pumped about that. It was really awesome.”

“They didn’t do anything that really surprised me. What they were doing we see an awful lot of. They just did it really well and really fast and were really confident in their assignments,” Reid said.

The Trojans wrapped things up with a 27-yard TD pass from Ball to Jackson Ballinger and a 3-yard run by Ball.

Ball finished the night completing 8 of 12 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns. He also led the offense with 118 yards rushing on just 10 carries. Marshall added 79 yards rushing, while Ballinger caught three passes for 71 yards. Eli Indiciani added one catch for 43 yards, while Love had the 24-yard TD catch and Marshall caught three balls for 21 yards.

MG’s Carson Barnum was held to just 68 yards rushing on 18 carries. The Indians did not compete a pass in six attempts, with one being intercepted by Ballinger.