With less than a minute until halftime, Centralia and Elma were locked in a low-scoring battle. Elma had possession deep in its own territory with less than a minute to play in the half, and the Eagles could have easily taken a knee and gone into the half tied.
Instead, they pushed the ball downfield, connected on a deep ball near the goal line, and punched in a touchdown right before half. On the other side of the halftime break, they returned the kickoff to start the second half back for six.
Just like that, Centralia trailed by two scores.
“Too many mistakes to win a football game,” Centralia coach Tyler Gedney said.
The Tigers stayed within striking distance throughout the second half, but those two touchdowns proved to be the difference in Centralia’s 41-28 loss.
“Things didn’t go our way,” Gedney said. “We were sloppy in a lot of areas. We couldn’t really tackle tonight. But they didn’t quit on me.”
It was clear the Tigers weren’t going to roll over early.
On Elma’s first possession, the Eagles got into the red zone, but Malcolm Tukes came down with a deflected pass for an interception to get the ball back.
Tukes got the Tigers on the board two drives later with a touchdown run from three yards out. That final run capped a 12-play, 60-yard drive that lasted more than eight minutes, and Tukes tallied 27 of those yards on that drive.
Tukes and the Centralia run game continued to have success throughout.
After Elma’s pair of touchdowns, Tukes gained 31 yards on four plays before Andres Coronel broke free for a 25-yard touchdown.
Tukes tacked on two more rushing touchdowns later in the second half, and he finished the day with 150 yards on 26 carries.
“The O-Line played great, and Tukes ran hard,” Gedney said.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, for every drive they strung together, the Eagles had an answer.
They needed just four plays to respond to Coronel’s touchdown, and then after Tukes’ second, they went 80 yards in just two and a half minutes to push the lead back to two touchdowns.
Isaac McGaffey made several plays for the Eagles, constantly hitting his receivers while scrambling outside of the pocket and connecting on multiple deep shots outside of the numbers.
Two of his biggest plays came on that 80-yard drive. The Eagles were up 28-21, but they faced a third and seven in their own territory. He was able to scamper away from the pressure and lob a pass to an open receiver to extend the drive.
Four plays later, he connected with receiver Dayton Brookins at the front pylon on a corner route from 33 yards out.
McGaffey finished with 296 total yards and four total touchdowns.
“When they were behind the sticks, they made plays,” Gedney said. “They got first downs, and they got in the end zone … We got in spots where we’d be behind the sticks, we couldn’t make plays, and drives would end.”
In the postgame huddle, Gedney thanked his players for continuing to battle, and he and his staff expressed confidence in the week ahead.
“They played hard,” Gedney said. “We got adjustments to make, but they played hard for 48 minutes.”
The Tigers (0-1) will hit the road next Friday, Sept. 12, when they’ll face R.A. Long in Longview.
