Jon Rooklidge and the Centralia High School football team have seen this movie before.
Home opener. Low-scoring, defensive slugfest. Overtime. Week 1 last fall versus Elam was deja vu to Friday night’s Week 2 contest against R.A. Long.
“Real similar,” Rooklidge stated.
The ending had the same closing scene.
Kellan Rooklidge was a yard away from continuing the Tigers overtime possession, but the Lumberjacks came away with the stop of the night and celebrated a 21-15 OT triumph on the newly-turfed Tiger Stadium.
Centralia (0-2) walked off the field in disbelief. Senior offensive lineman David Daarud squatted with his helmet off in shock.
“The end of the game boils down to inches,” Coach Rooklidge said. “It hurts, I hurt for the kids because they laid it out on the line and came up just a hair short.”
The Tigers won the coin toss and elected to play defense first. It took R.A. Long (1-1) a handful of plays to deliver the first blow, a Jaxson Rivenes 7-yard plunge. The Lumberjacks decided to go for two, but were stuffed well short.
It set the stage for Centralia to snap a three-game skid. After a false start, quarterback Terrell Sanders took a designed QB run for eight yards. Coach Rooklidge decided to put the ball in Kellan’s hands on the fateful play.
“He’s our yardage guy,” he said. “Our quarterback counters had, for the most part, been stuffed all night.”
The Lumberjacks wrapped him up a yard short and to end a nine-game losing streak. Rooklidge was the bell cow with 19 carries for 97 yards and a 9-yard score in the second quarter that gave Centralia a 12-7 lead.
To get to overtime, the Tigers drove the length of the field and faced fourth and goal from the R.A. Long six-yard line. They trotted out senior Page Miles for a 23-yard field goal, who booted it through on a low line drive.
Just like against Elma a season ago, Centralia pounded the rock to the tune of 208 yards. Roman Cando-Young added 52 yards and Sanders chipped in 33. It out-gained R.A. Long 250-218.
“We needed three (points),” Coach Rooklidge said. “There’s no doubt in our mind (to kick the field goal). I was happy offensively and defensively.”
Despite a bounty of pre and post-snap penalties from both sides, including the first four plays of the night that featured 30 yards in calls, the Tigers were competitive throughout the contest.
Sanders capped a long drive with a 1-yard run, but a botched snap prevented a tie. R.A. Long snared the lead with 10 seconds left before half on a touchdown pass and fake PAT two-point try.
“We’re playing with a lot of guys that are at it for the first time,” Coach Rooklidge said. “We’re making strides.”
Centralia has homecoming next week and will face Foster. It closes the non-league slate of its schedule against Class 1A Tenino before opening the EvCo portion of the schedule at Black Hills.
“I saw character out there tonight,” Coach Rooklidge said. “We’re in games and it looks different.”
