Center Grove football survives scare, beats Lawrence North

Sometimes all it takes is one friendly bounce to make up for an otherwise luckless night.

A key fourth-quarter turnover helped Class 6A No. 2 Center Grove survive a hellacious scare from former conference rival Lawrence North and put away a 43-26 triumph that was far closer for much of the evening than the final tally might lead some to believe.

Down by four with less than nine minutes to go in the contest, the Trojans (7-1) reclaimed the upper hand for good with a 65-yard scoring drive, one that was highlighted by a 30-yard throw from Tyler Cherry to Tristan Baxter before Matthew Yoder scored on a 4-yard run to make it 29-26 with exactly seven minutes on the clock.

Then, serendipity. Tyler Schruben’s kickoff landed just inside the sideline and bounced back into play, setting up a Wildcat return that was fumbled and recovered by Center Grove’s Auggy Argbah at the Lawrence North 19. On third down, Cherry found Noah Coy for a 13-yard scoring pass to stretch the margin to 10 with 5:50 left. A turnover on downs gave the Trojans the ball back at the Wildcat 34, and Yoder scored a 2-yard insurance TD with 2:17 remaining.

Yoder rushed 31 times for a career-high 140 yards in a game that was completely up for grabs most of the way.

The Trojans scored quickly to open the evening, going 76 yards in eight plays. Cherry was 3 of 3 for 47 yards on the drive, finishing it off with a 19-yard pass to Brevin Holubar at the 8:13 mark of the first period. Center Grove got the ball back after the Wildcats went three and out but couldn’t cash in, turning the ball over on downs at the Lawrence North 45 — and the visitors made them pay with a pair of touchdowns in a span of 15.4 seconds.

Four plays after taking over, Montez Jones threw a 43-yard TD to a wide open Davion Chandler. The Wildcats’ point-after try failed, leaving the Trojans with a 7-6 edge — but Cherry’s throw on the next play from scrimmage was picked off by Jerome Smith, and Jones scored on a 23-yard run one play later, giving Lawrence North a 12-7 advantage with 43.9 seconds remaining in the first.

Center Grove stopped that wave of momentum with a deliberate 10-play, 70-yard drive. Yoder did a good chunk of the work, carrying six times for 34 yards, before Cherry threaded the needle to Coy for a 10-yard touchdown. Cherry then hit a diving Drake McClurg on the two-point pass, putting the Trojans on top by three with 8:48 left in the half.

The Wildcats dodged a couple of bullets, getting a fourth-down stop at the LN 6-yard line and then recovering a fumble on a short punt that would have set the Trojans up with a short field late in the half. Instead, it was Lawrence North that struck before the intermission.

Three personal foul penalties and a pass interference flag gave the Wildcats a first and goal at the 9-yard line with 25 seconds on the first-half clock. On third down from the 10, Jones lobbed a ball to the right side of the end zone for Chandler, who made a leaping catch that was ruled in bounds, angering the Trojan fans but sending the away side into the locker room with a 19-15 lead.

After halftime, Center Grove forced punts on Lawrence North’s first two possessions, and it only needed to go 51 yards to turn the second of those into points. Cherry dodged some pressure, scrambled out of the pocket and dumped the ball off to an open Dominick Barry, who turned it into a 36-yard touchdown reception to put the home team back in front with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter.

The Trojans got back to the Wildcat 27 and had a chance to extend the lead, but Cherry was sacked on fourth down, and Lawrence North started moving in the other direction. Two long passes by Jones — the latter a 35-yarder to a leaping Chanlder on third and 28 — set up first and goal, and a 6-yarder from Jones to Chandler with 8:48 remaining flipped the score back in the Wildcats’ favor at 26-22.

The remaining time belonged entirely to the Trojans, who ran their series win streak against the Wildcats to 19 games.