Centre Cougars nipped by Quivera Heights
Centre High football team traveled to Quivira Heights Friday for a tough fight which left the Cougars behind by four points when the final buzzer sounded.
The team had a tough start when Heights recovered a Centre fumble a few seconds into the game and ran the ball in for a touchdown. With a two-point conversion, Heights was ahead 0-8.
At 4:56 to go in the first quarter, Curtis Gutsch gave Centre its first touchdown with a three-yard run. He also ran for the extra points, tying the game 8-8.
The second quarter was a disaster for the Cougars, as Heights completed four touchdowns and two extra points. Centre managed to score one touchdown on a 44-yard pass from Gutsch to Stahlecker. The PAT attempt failed, and the score at half-time was 14-34.
But the Cougars came back fighting in the second half and outscored Heights in both quarters.
The two third-quarter Centre touchdowns came on a one-yard run by Gutsch and a 70-yard kick return by Todd Stahlecker. Mark Pagenkopf scored the extra points after both touchdowns. Heights managed one touchdown but failed the PAT. Centre had cut its deficit in half, trailing by 10 points, 30-40, at the end of the quarter.
In the final quarter, the gap was closed to only two points when a pass from Gutsch to Eric Peterson resulted in a touchdown and a pass from Gutsch to Stahlecker provided the two-point conversion. The score was 38-40.
But then Heights came back to add eight points, bringing the score to 38-48.
With six minutes remaining, Centre scored the final touchdown of the game on a 56-yard pass from Gutsch to Stahlecker. The PAT attempt failed. The final score was Centre 44 Quivira Heights 48.
There were only five punts in the game, two by Centre, three by Quivira Heights. Both teams moved the ball well, Centre doing better in the air and Heights on the ground.
Centre carried the ball 39 times for 139 yards and passed for 233, a total of 372 yards.
Heights had 37 carries for 259 yards and 123 yards passing, a total of 382 yards.
Mark Pagenkopf with 54 yards and Kyle Luna with 57 yards were leading rushers. Luna had six receptions for 131 yards and Pagenkopf had four receptions for 76 yards. Gutsch completed 13 of 25 passes for 233 yards.
Leading tackler was Travis Burns with three unassisted and 10 assisted tackles.
Centre faces Little River at Little River Thursday in a decisive district game.
Team Statistics
First downs: Centre 14, Heights 9.
Rushing: Centre 39/139, Heights 37/259.
Passing: Centre 13/25/233, Heights 5/9/123.
Punts: Centre 2/49, Heights 3/118.
Punt returns: Centre 0, Heights 1/27.
Kick-offs: Centre 7/243, Heights 8/287.
Kick returns: Centre 8/129, Heights 5/87.
Fumbles: Centre 2, lost 0, Heights 2, lost 1.
Penalties: Centre 1/10, Heights 6/43.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Pagenkopf 13/54, Luna 15/57, Gutsch 7/19, Stahlecker 4/12.
Passes: Gutsch 13/25/233.
Receptions: Peterson 1/15, Luna 2/11, Stahlecker 6/131, Pagenkopf 4/76.
Tackles, unassisted, assisted: Burns 3/10, Derek Belton 1/4, Gutsch, 2/2, Pagenkopf 5/2, Stahlecker 8/0, Peterson 2/4, Luna 4/5, Joe Forsberg 2/4.
