Center Grove’s Brevin Holubar pulls in a long pass during Friday’s sectional game against visiting Franklin Central.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Center Grove’s march to a third straight Class 6A state championship last fall got started with a tougher-than-expected sectional semifinal victory over Franklin Central.
Deceptive final score aside, the Trojans did a pretty good job of sticking to that same script on Friday night.
The state’s second-ranked team trailed the visiting Flashes late in the second quarter before a highlight-reel touchdown catch by Brevin Holubar and two interceptions apiece by defensive backs Brody Boswell and Luke Barrett helped guide the way to a 40-14 triumph.
Center Grove (9-1) will travel to Columbus North next week and attempt to claim its 13th straight sectional championship. The Bull Dogs topped Jeffersonville on Friday, 58-0.
The Trojans established themselves on both sides of the ball early, planting the seeds of a would-be blowout. Franklin Central’s first pass of the night was snagged by Boswell, who returned the ball to the Flashes’ 23-yard line. Four plays later, Tyler Cherry connected with Noah Coy in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown, giving the home team the advantage less than three minutes in.
After the Franklin Central offense went three and out, Cherry went right back to the air, sending a bomb down the right side that found Holubar in stride for a 65-yard score. The point after missed, leaving the Trojans up 13-0 with 7:04 still remaining in the first quarter.
The Flashes (4-6) held their ground, however, and turned things around early in the second. Nevan Tutterow completed four straight passes, starting with three in a row to tight end Caden Logue, to set up first and goal on the Center Grove 3. Broderic Middleton ran it in two plays later from the 1 at the 9:03 mark to get Franklin Central within six points.
Center Grove punted for a third straight time and the visitors went on the move again, marching inside the Trojan 30. But when Tutterow hit Logue on a fourth-down pass, senior linebacker Kaden McConnell came up with a big tackle in open space to stop the drive.
Alas, the Trojan offense stalled again, and on the first play after another punt, Tutterow went over the middle for Jayon Harvey, who made a catch in traffic and was able to break away for a 69-yard touchdown after the two defenders near him collided with one another. The point after was good, giving Franklin Central a 14-13 edge with 1:58 to go in the half.
But Center Grove had an answer. A 47-yard heave from Cherry to Holubar quickly got the Trojans into the red zone, and with 36.4 seconds left before the break, the two linked up again — this time with Holubar making a diving grab and somehow getting an elbow down in the corner of the end zone.
Midway through a game they were dominating and then losing, the Trojans took a 19-14 lead into the locker room.
Each team opened the third period with a fruitless possession, but after a 22-yard punt return by Drake McClurg set Center Grove up near midfield, Cherry steered a quick six-play, 56-yard scoring drive that ended with a 10-yard pass to Coy at the 4:11 mark of the quarter. A 19-yard Matthew Yoder run and a pass interference flag helped set up the touchdown.
The Trojan defense took it from there.
On the Flashes’ next possession, Barrett intercepted a Tutterow throw and followed an Owen Bright block up the sideline to finish off a 45-yard touchdown return. The junior then recovered a fumble that Bright forced after a Logue catch in Center Grove territory, and he picked off Tutterow again on the opening play of the fourth period.
Those last two takeaways didn’t bear any fruit, but Boswell’s second pick of the night did; Cherry lofted a 38-yard TD pass to Coy with 2:08 remaining to ice it.
