By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Unfortunately for Centre, St. Paul proved to be the better team Friday. The Cougars were defeated, 80-50, in a regional championship game on the road at St. Paul but ended the season with a better record, 7-3, than the year before.

The high-scoring game yielded a lot of action.

After St. Paul took an 8-0 lead, Xavier Espinoza returned the kickoff for a Centre touchdown. However, by the end of the first quarter, St. Paul had surged to a 22-6 lead.

Aiden Svoboda scored the first touchdown in the second quarter with an 11-yard run. St. Paul followed with four consecutive touchdowns. Jensen Riffel caught a 65-yard pass from Espinoza to give Centre six more points before the half ended with the Cougars down, 52-20.

Centre outscored St. Paul, 30-28, in the second half on two touchdown runs each by Espinoza and Riffel.

Espinoza and Riffel combined for 282 rushing yards. Svoboda had 33. St. Paul rushed for 398 yards. Centre led in the air, 83-36, but threw three interceptions.

Coach Kelly Steiner was pleased with the season.

“We finished with two more games and two more wins than last year,” he said. “Our record was 7-3 with all three losses coming against quality playoff teams that as of now, are still playing.”