Centrals Noah Bolling dives for the end zone in Fridays victory over Gate City
Wise Central continued to stay on their recent tear Friday night as they piled up 410 yards on offense to upend the Blue Devils 35-21 in a playoff like atmosphere at Legion Field in Gate City.
Gate City (4-6, 2-4) came in to Fridays contest with a three game winning streak while Central (7-2, 4-2) had recorded three straight wins themselves. Running out of the Wing-T, the three headed monster in Centrals backfield racked up 375 yards rushing behind the blocking of the Warriors athletic offensive line. C.J. Crabtree piled up 138 yards on 21 attempts while Matthew Boggs added 113 yards rushing on just 6 carries. Noah Bolling also added 95 yards for the Warriors on 10 carries.
Gate City got on the board first when quarterback Luke Reed called his own number from the one yard line to give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead. Central would answer the bell as they scored two touchdowns on runs of 45 yards and 9 yards from Boggs and Bolling to make the score 14-7. Reed tried to keep his team in the contest as he scored his second one yard touchdown of the night to tie the game at 14 all with under 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Central would then extend their drive on a fourth down and 2 when Gate City jumped offsides giving the Warriors a first down. A 23 yard pass from quarterback Ethan Mullins to Bolling then set up a 21 yard touchdown run to put the Warriors up 21-14 at halftime.
Central added to their lead early in the third quarter when Bolling added his second touchdown of the night on an 18 yard run to make the score 28-14. Gate City would then put a solid drive together and march down the field inside the Warrior 5 yard line. On 2nd & Goal Gate City would then fumble the ball in to the end zone and Central would come up with the recovery to put the Blue Devils drive to a halt with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. After forcing Central to punt, Reed hit Carson Jenkins on a 25 yard touchdown pass to make it 28-21. Gate Citys defense would rise to the occasion once more and gave possession back to their offense. Gate City would drive the ball down to the Central 25 yard line before they turned the ball over on downs. Bolling would then ice the game for the Warriors as he scored his third touchdown of the night on a 1 yard run with a little under four minutes remaining in the contest.
Gate City closes out their regular season with a 4-6 record and go in to their bye week awaiting their opponent in the opening round of the Region 2D playoffs. Wise Central heads to Slate Creek to face off with the Grundy Golden Wave in both teams regular season finale. Gate City finished the contest with 130 rushing yards while quarterback Luke Reed threw for 92 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 2 touchdowns.
