Patriots Defeat Central

The Christ Prep Patriots defeated the Central Eagles Friday night 42-28 at East High School Field in Kansas City. The Patriots rolled up over 400 yards of total offense in the victory, which improved the team's record to 2-1.

As with last week's game, the Patriots found themselves down early as Central connected on an 84 yard touchdown strike on the game's first play from scrimmage. Central also converted its 2-point attempt after touchdown and the Patriots trailed 8-0.

CPA took little time in coming back, however, as junior quarterback Darren Wallace found senior WR Demonta Bailey with a 30-yard touchdown toss with 6:43 left in the first quarter. CPA converted its PAT try and the Patriots were back to within one at 8-7. Shortly thereafter the Patriots' defense stepped up as a Central bad snap allowed senior CB Davis Finley to tackle the Central punter in the end zone for a safety at the 2:31 mark. The first quarter ended with the Patriots up 9-8.

The Patriots and Eagles traded possessions in the second quarter until Central struck with a 37-yard TD pass with 7:34 left in the half. After a failed PAT, the Patriots were down 14-9. CPA fought back just before halftime, however, as Wallace scored on a QB sneak set up by his long pass to sophomore WR Jack Layman on the previous play. Although the PAT attempt failed, Christ Prep took a 15-14 halftime lead into the locker room.

The third quarter saw no scoring until Wallace found the end zone on another QB sneak at the 3:24 mark. The resulting two-point conversion put the Patriots up 23-14.

The CPA offense struck early in the fourth quarter as Wallace connected with Layman for a 25-yard touchdown. The resulting PAT attempt failed and the Patriots were up 29-14 at the game's 11:43 mark. The next six minutes saw no scoring but both teams ended the game with a flurry. Darren Wallace scored on a 32-yard option run with 5:16 left in the game. The PAT failed and the Patriots were up 35-14.

Both teams added scores late as the Central QB scored on an 11-yard scamper with 4 minutes left in the game. After a failed PAT attempt the Patriots took the ensuing kickoff and marched down field for yet another touchdown as Wallace found Bailey again--this time with a pass covering 37 yards with 2:37 left in the contest. Central also scored on a late TD pass and converted its 2-point attempt and the game ended at 42-28.

Lenard Manuel led all players in total rushing by running for 117 yards in 21 carries. Jack Layman had three pass receptions for 78 yards (1 TD) while Demonta Bailey added another three catches totalling 70 yards and two touchdowns. Wallace contributed 81 yards rushing on 15 attempts, three of them going for touchdowns. Sophomore RB Jesse Mann added 46 yards on 16 carries. In all, the Patriots totalled 406 yards total offense--249 rushing and 157 through the air.

Defensively, seniors Cameron Wainscott (S) and Finley (CB) each had one interception. The tackling was spread among the team with several Patriots including Jared Nield, Logan White, Jacob Bronars, Michael Force and Andrew Langston contributing.

The Patriots take their 2-1 record next Friday to Weston, Missouri to face the West Platte Blue Jays, a Missouri Class 1-A school. The Blue Jays own a 2-2 record after defeating Cass Midway 28-0 Friday night. The Patriot-Blue Jay match up is a 7:00 p.m. contest at the West Platte field, located at 935 Washington St. in Weston.

Scroll down to view more photos of last night's action. Look for additional posts this weekend where Patriot Football 2009 hopes to include some video of last the Central game.