Cougars end season with win over St. Xavier
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
If the saying, "All is well that ends well," is true, the Centre Cougars ended the regular season on a positive note with a 52-6 win Thursday at St. Xavier of Junction City.
The Cougars' 2004 record is 2-7. They can be consoled by the fact that the Hillsboro Trojans compiled the same record.
Centre overwhelmed the St. Xavier defense in the first quarter, completing five touchdowns and four two-point conversions, to lead 38-0.
Quarterback Andrew Hajek scored the first touchdown on a 29-yard run. The PAT failed. Hajek scored again on a 14-yard run and Keenan Geissert ran for the extra points.
Thieen Antoszyk recovered a fumble and ran for 25 yards to score the third touchdown. Geissert added the extra points. Seth Jirak delivered a 53-yard punt return to score again with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter. Jeremy Kristek ran for the extra points.
The Cougars weren't quite finished. Antoszyk recovered another Rams fumble and returned the ball 40 yards for a fifth touchdown. The two-point conversion by Kristek and a four-yard touchdown run by Matt Leach in the second quarter resulted in a halftime score of 44-0.
The Rams' only touchdown came at the beginning of the third quarter. The PAT failed.
After Jirak scored again on an eight- yard run and converted for two points, the game was called due to the 45-point rule. The final score: 52-6.
Most of Centre's yardage came on the ground. The Cougars carried the ball 24 times for 156 yards compared to 19 carries for 57 yards by the Rams. They passed for 27 yards compared to 59 for the Rams.
Hajek was Centre's leading rusher. He carried the ball six times for 62 yards, followed by Geissert with five carries for 44 yards.
Antoszyk was 2-17 in passing and Kristek was 2-17 in receptions.
Jirak led the defense with four unassisted and nine assisted tackles. Tad Remy contributed three unassisted and eight assisted tackles, and Lance Diepenbrock was 2-10.
