The Ankeny Centennial football team closed out its season with an offensive explosion.
The Jaguars scored 37 unanswered points over the final three quarters to post a 51-14 victory on Friday at Sioux City North. They put a running clock into effect for most of the second half.
Quarterback Brekken Miller ran for one touchdown and passed for four more–two of them to Cade Newman. Kenyon Sallis added a pair of scores as Centennial snapped a five-game losing skid.
“I’m definitely glad we got to walk out with a win one last time for our seniors,” said Miller. “Those guys changed the program in a major way, and I’m very glad that’s how it ended.”
The Jaguars finished the season with a 3-6 record. They moved up five spots to 21st in the final Class 5A rankings with an RPI of .4805, but still missed the playoffs.
Centennial was ranked ahead of two teams with four wins–Iowa City West and Des Moines Lincoln. But the Jaguars still found themselves on the outside of the 16 qualifying spots.
Centennial needed only 58 seconds to score its first touchdown against the Stars. Miller threw a 15-yard pass to Owen Gasperi to give the Jaguars an early lead.
Sioux City North (0-9) capitalized on two Centennial turnovers to tie the game, 14-14, at the end of the first quarter. Sallis then scored his second touchdown to put the Jaguars ahead for good, 21-14, with 9 minutes 30 seconds left until halftime.
Centennial went on to score 28 points in a span of 8:36 in the second quarter. Miller found the end zone on a 4-yard run with 7:37 remaining, then fired a 50-yard touchdown pass to Newman at the 5:10 mark.
“It was a corner route,” said Newman. “It was a shorter route, and I just caught it and ran it in.”
With less than a minute to go until halftime, Miller got the ball back on a trick play and then tossed a 40-yard pass to Urban Ingram to give the Jaguars a 42-14 advantage at the break.
“We ran that flea flicker all week through practice,” Miller said. “I handed it off and then he pitched it to our receiver on a reverse, and then he threw another pitch to me and I got it and saw Ingram running free so it worked just like we wanted it to!”
Centennial put the running clock into effect when Miller connected with Newman for another score with 6:16 left in the third quarter. It was the sixth touchdown catch of the season for the Illinois tight end recruit.
“It was about a 25-yard pass, and I caught it in the end zone,” Newman said.
The Jaguars later added a safety in the final period to complete the scoring.