Central trips up Capitol

• By CHARLES SALZER
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Oct 31, 2009

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CENTRAL — Questions as to whether Class 2A’s third-ranked team could challenge the No. 4 team in Class 5A were answered early Friday night at Central High.

Central and Capitol High Academy staged a first-half shootout before the Wildcats slowly pulled away in the second half for a 39-20 win.

“Sometimes what classification you play in matters, sometimes it doesn’t,” Central coach Sid Edwards said after his team outscored Capitol 14-0 in the second half. “It didn’t matter tonight. Capitol is very good.”

Central (8-1) churned out 431 yards of total offense including 298 through the air. Quarterback Will Briscoe was 11-of-18 for 218 yards and two scores.

Capitol (8-1) had 248 total yards, but most of that came in the first half when the see-saw battle was still in doubt. Frankie Jackson led all rushers with 111 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Lions quarterback Terrance Broadway completed just 1-of-6 second-half passes, and finished the game 7-of-18 for 103 yards.

“A lot of things happened tonight,” Capitol coach Chadwick Germany said. “I think it was a measuring tool for us, and a learning experience for us to know where we are and what we need to work on to achieve our goals.”

Central led 12-6 after one quarter, but Capitol rallied to tie on a 2-yard Jackson scoring run. Briscoe scored on a 12-yard run to put Central back on top, but Capitol wasn’t finished.

Broadway led the Lions on a six-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in Broadway’s 28-yard TD strike to Regginald Stansbury. Broadway then threw to Roosevelt Wright for the two-point conversion, and Capitol led 20-19 with 3:42 to go in the half.

This time, it was Central that answered. On the next play from scrimmage, Briscoe hit McKenzie Price with a 20-yard completion on the right sideline, that turned into a 74-yard touchdown. A two-point pass try failed, but Central led 25-20.

Capitol quickly moved to a first down at the CHS 18, but a fumbled snap on first down put the Lions in a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

Central led 25-20 at halftime.

In the third, both teams had trouble moving the ball until late when Central put together a 51-yard drive that was aided by three Capitol penalties that gave the Wildcats first downs. Shedrick Davis ran in from two yards out to give Central a 32-20 lead.