Centennial stays unbeaten

Adam Candee

Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 10:19 a.m.

THURSDAY'S SCORES

The Centennial coaches sent in "Power 34," but quarterback Cory Gray saw a play he liked a bit more: Bulldogs 6.

Gray scored the game's only touchdown on a one-yard plunge midway through the fourth quarter as Centennial bested Palo Verde 7-3 at home Thursday night to claim the Northwest division title and home-field advantage throughout the Sunset Region playoffs.

The play on which Gray scored, however, did not call for him to keep the ball on first-and-goal from the Palo Verde 1-yard line. The design called for Gray to hand the ball off to the right side, but the senior signal caller took one step back and dashed for an opening up the middle for the touchdown.

"I didn't want to take the risk of handing it off," Gray said.

Centennial coach Greg Murphy, whose team remained perfect, was pleased that Gray broke off the play to find the end zone.

"Cory has the ability to see those things and I give him the green light to take those things," Murphy said.

On a chilly night dominated by defense, there were not many offensive things to take for either team. Centennial (8-0, 3-0) had 215 yards of total offense and the Bulldogs allowed Palo Verde (5-3, 1-2) just 149.

Although the Centennial defense stifled the Panthers throughout the game, a 26-yard field goal by Palo Verde's Danny Scolari late in the first quarter stood as the game's only score well into the final period. The field goal was set up when Palo Verde recovered a Jarvis Jones fumble -- one of three first-half turnovers for Centennial -- at the Bulldogs' 28.

"We knew they were going to cause some problems for us," Murphy said.

Centennial started the game's lone touchdown drive from its own 38-yard line late in the third quarter and grabbed the lead early in the fourth. Gray hit tight end Layne Webb with a pass in the right flat that went for 23 yards, and running back Melvin Matlock followed with a 12-yard carry up the middle to move Centennial to the Panthers' 25.

With the drive in trouble on third-and-nine from the Palo Verde 24, Gray swung a pass to Matlock in the left flat that gained 13 yards and a first down. Three plays later, Gray capped the nine-play drive covering 3:54 with his scoring run.

The Bulldogs defense took over the game from there.

Matlock finished with 69 yards on 22 carries and Gray ran 14 times for 44 yards.