Central burns Bainbridge 35-14

Sep. 5—After losing their last five games to Bainbridge, Central's Yellow Jackets made a strong statement about their 2022 season under new head coach Justin Rogers with an impressive 35-14 trouncing of the #5 ranked Bearcats Friday night at The Jackets' Nest.

"That's a solid football team and a solid program over there," Rogers said about the visiting Bearcats after the win. "Our first two games were against programs who had new coaches and new systems that were still settling in. That's not the case with Bainbridge. That staff has won at the highest levels. This gives us a good indicator that our kids are doing what they're being coached to do, and it is paying off on the field."

In front of a huge home crowd for Central, both defenses controlled the action early in the game, forcing punts on the first few drives from both teams. However, late in the first quarter Central's Javion Revels blocked a Bainbridge punt that ended up at the Bearcat 32 yard line. Central put its first drive together behind the arm of senior quarterback Sam Brown, ending when running back Ricky Fulton scored from 6-yards out with 1:25 left in the opening frame to give the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 lead with Campbell Smith's extra point.

The Central backfield would strike again in the second quarter when junior running back Trey Brenton took a handoff from Brown straight up the gut of the Bainbridge defense for a nice 27-yard strike. With Campbell's PAT, Central led 14-0.

Brown's air-arm would be featured on the next Yellow Jacket score, as he would connect with senior receiving Tyler Floyd for a sparkling 21-yard touchdown strike with 44 seconds remaining in the half. Campbell's kick would extend the Central lead to 21-0 at the half.

"We felt pretty good going into the half, but Bainbridge is Bainbridge," Rogers said about the halftime margin. "They're not going to quit. You can't take anything for granted against a good team, and we needed to shut the door on them."

With both defenses again controlling the tempo of the game to start the second half, Central once again rode the strong legs of Brenton into the end zone on a five-yard gallop with 3:09 left in the third quarter. Campbell again stuck the PAT and Central was in control 28-0.

Bainbridge would finally get on the board with 1:33 left in the third quarter. On a fourth down play from the Central 41-yard line, Bearcat quarterback Cam Sanders hit running back Antavious Murphy with a screen pass near the Bainbridge sidelines. Murphy turned on the jets and utilizing good blocks in front of him outran the Central defense to the end zone, cutting the lead to 28-7.

However, the homestanding Yellow Jackets would answer with 8:03 left on the clock in the contest when Brown would take it in himself on a one-yard run. The Campbell PAT extended the Central lead back out to 35-7.

Bainbridge would score its last points after blocking a Central punt and recovering it in the Yellow Jacket end zone with 1:15 left on the clock. The Yellow Jackets smothered the ensuring onside kick from Bainbridge and ran out the clock on a solid 35-14 victory, their first win over Bainbridge since 2016 and most lopsided Yellow Jacket victory in the series since trouncing the Bearcats 55-20 in 2007.

Brown finished the night 14 of 18 passing for 166 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Brenton ended up with 67 yards rushing on 10 carries and two touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets racked up 148 rushing yards on 38 carries. The offensive star of the night for Central was Floyd, who piled up 154 receiving yards on 9 receptions and a touchdown.

Led again by senior defensive lineman Javion Revels, the Yellow Jacket defense held the vaunted Bainbridge rushing attack to just 54 rushing yards on 27 carries. Sanders went 10 of 23 passing for 115 yards for the Bearcats.

Overall, Central outgained Bainbridge on the night 331 to 175. One negative for the night for Central was 13 penalties for 115 yards.

Central has opened the 2022 season with wins over Cairo, Thomasville, and Bainbridge by a cumulative 116-21 score. With the win over Bainbridge, the Yellow Jackets now lead the series with Bainbridge 20-18-2.

"Our players are starting to understand what it takes to win," Rogers said after the game. "It's not easy to get up three straight weeks to take on rivals every time. But our players and coaches met the challenge and I couldn't be more proud of them."

Now 3-0 on the season, Central will travel to Tallahasse to play the Chiles Timberwolves next week in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7 pm.

"Anytime you can beat a good team it's something to be excited about. I'm excited for our team and for our fans, but we've still got a lot we can improve on," Rogers concluded. "We're glad this next road game is close to home, and I know the Jacketnation will travel those 30 miles down past the Florida line next week to show up big time for our players."