Defense keys Faith Lutheran’s 36-7 victory over Centennial
Centennial was about to steal the momentum in the first quarter Friday night against Faith Lutheran.
Connor Bourne’s sack then helped turn the game around, and the sixth-ranked Crusaders rolled to a 36-7 home win over the ninth-ranked Bulldogs.
Bourne said big plays just sort of happen for Faith Lutheran’s defense, and that certainly was the case Friday.
“It just has something to do with the talent on our team and how we work,” he said. “If you try to bring attention to one person, you’re going to leave someone unattended. We just have so many talented people on our team, we have so many hard workers that just make big plays and work their butt off, the big plays come easy.”
Centennial’s defense made the first big play when Davone Walden intercepted Sagan Gronauer at the Faith Lutheran 11-yard line.
But two botched snaps and Bourne’s sack pushed the Bulldogs back to the 33, where they chose to go for a 50-yard field goal.
Walden couldn’t corral a high snap, and Faith Lutheran’s Hunter Kaupiko scooped up the loose ball and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown and a 9-0 lead.
Faith Lutheran’s defense was stout all game, yielding 117 yards of offense and forcing four turnovers. Bourne had two sacks and a tackle for loss.
“As a defense, our chemistry is getting better and we’re growing together as a team, and that helps us play,” Bourne said. “And I just feel like every week we’re going to get better and better, and this week was another example of us just improving on last week.”
After Kaupiko’s fumble return, Greg Oliver intercepted a Colton Tenney pass on Centennial’s next possession, returning the ball 39 yards and setting up a 7-yard TD run by Julian Rohan that gave Faith Lutheran (3-3, 2-0 Northwest League) a 16-0 lead with 10:37 left in the first half.
The Crusaders’ Trent Teunis later pounced on a bad snap on a Centennial punt, giving Faith Lutheran the ball at the Centennial 11 and setting up a 6-yard TD pass from Gronauer to Oliver that pushed the lead to 29-0 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
It was the second TD pass for Gronauer, who had a 6-yard scoring strike to freshman Keegan Buck in the first half.
Rohan added a 5-yard TD run with 7:25 left for a 36-0 lead.
Centennial’s biggest highlight came after Rohan’s second score. Gerick Robinson returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown for the Bulldogs (3-3, 0-2). Robinson took the kick up the right sideline, cut back inside, stiff-armed the kicker and took the ball into the left corner of the end zone.
Kendall Lightfoot had three tackles for loss for Faith Lutheran, which is set for a showdown with second-ranked Arbor View next week.
“I’m excited,” Bourne said. “I’ve got a lot of good friends at Arbor View, but this is my team. This is my brotherhood. And we’ve been wanting this. We’ve been thinking about this game all year.”
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Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow @DamonSeiters on Twitter.
