Center Grove’s Dominick Barry runs the ball during Friday’s game against visiting St Frances Academy.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Center Grove put the lid on its regular season Friday night by playing its seventh out-of-state opponent in the past three years.
St. Frances Academy, located in Baltimore and ranked 30th nationally according to MaxPreps, proved too much for the state’s seventh-ranked squad in Class 6A, winning 48-10.
Last week, Trojans coach Eric Moore jokingly referred to the Panthers as the Washington Commanders. He wasn’t far off.
St. Frances, a program teeming with Division I talent in the trenches, the defensive backfield and pretty much most everyplace else, eventually put Center Grove in the rarest of positions — the wrong end of a running clock.
“We got to play and compete against excellent speed and excellent football players,” Moore said. “Their kids play hard, and that’s what they’re supposed to do. They made big plays, and we couldn’t make the big plays along with them. Their defense was amazingly fast and physical. We were like a dance team, three steps and kick.”
Center Grove’s first offensive series proved to be its highlight of the opening half.
The Trojans advanced the football from their own 24 to the Panthers’ 14 before settling for sophomore Dallas Cornpropst splitting the uprights on a 31-yard field goal attempt with 6:54 left in the opening period.
St. Frances stalled at the CG 32 on its first series, but the Trojans were unable to widen the lead. Senior quarterback Gabe McWilliams’ pass on fourth and 4 from the Panthers’ 28 was incomplete.
The remainder of the half essentially belonged to the visitors, who put together scoring drives of 72 and 55 yards to take a 14-3 lead at halftime.
St. Frances’ initial score came on junior Jaelyn Burke’s 24-yard run up the middle at 11:22 of the second. The second touchdown was Burke running it in from 2 yards at the 7:34 mark.
The Panthers churned out 224 yards of total offense in the opening half to Center Grove’s 79. All but 13 of the Trojans’ yards were on their first drive.
St. Frances began pouring it on in the second half, including a 27-point third quarter to go up 41-3. Junior quarterback Jae’Oyn Williams, who didn’t play in the first half, scored on a 5-yard run to start the avalanche of points.
Senior running back Bryce Deas then hit paydirt on a 36-yard run, followed by Williams’ 27-yard sprint to the end zone and anotehr one covering 22 yards. It was then, with 1:37 remaining in the third, that a running clock went into effect.
Center Grove’s lone touchdown came on senior Austin Hennessy’s 21-yard run at 11:05 of the fourth quarter. The Panthers countered on Williams’ 21-yard TD toss to 6-foot-5 junior tight end Damon Hall at the 4:20 mark.
Hennessy carried the ball nine times for 36 yards to lead the Trojans’ ground attack, followed by Jack Browning with seven attempts for 30 yards. McWilliams completed 9 of 17 pass attempts for 89 yards.
Center Grove (5-4) is now off for two weeks before starting postseason play with a sectional semifinal at Jeffersonville on Nov. 1.
The good news for the Trojans is that no team they face from this point on will be as good as the one they played Friday night. And the time off will be a positive, for sure.
“Healing up, get a little rest in this week, and then get ready for Jeffersonville,” Moore said. “They’ve got a lot of talent, and we’ve got to play football.”
