Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
The Centre football team moved to 4-0 on the season by rolling to a 50-20 victory over Washington University on Saturday in Danville, Ky.
The Bears dealt Centre its first loss after a 3-0 start a year ago, but the Colonels were in control throughout Saturday's contest, never trailing while outgaining Washington 483-219. Washington threatened only briefly, cutting the Colonels' lead to 20-7 in the second quarter, but Centre ran away with the game by scoring 30 of the next 33 points to take a 50-10 early fourth quarter lead.
Senior quarterback Heath Haden (Kingsport, Tenn.) threw for a season-high 244 yards and three touchdowns while running back Nolan Coulter (Knoxville, Tenn.) topped the 100-yard mark for the third time in four games, running for 101 yards and three scores. Casey Bradley(Acworth, Ga.) added another 93 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Max Mazza (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the Colonels' top receiver with three catches for 68 yards.
The Centre defense did its job as well, holding the Bears to just 129 yards of total offense midway through the fourth quarter before they put together two scoring drives in the closing minutes. Paul Megilligan (Danville, Ky.) was the Colonels' top tackler with eight stops and a tackle for loss, while Taylor Peoples (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and Nate Sparks (Cincinnati, Ohio) each had interceptions.
After going three-and-out on its opening series, Centre took the lead for good with touchdowns the next three times it got the ball. On their second possession, the Colonels marched 80 yards in 15 plays, capped by a Coulter touchdown, then followed that up with an eight-yard touchdown run by Bradley to finish off a 46-yard drive.
After the Colonels opened the second quarter with a 13-0 lead, a 52-yard strike from Haden to Mazza heleped set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Coulter. On the ensuing possession, Washington used a 32-yard pickup on a fake punt to spark its only sustained drive in the first three quarters, with Cody Raterman plunging in from two yards out to make the score 20-7.
That would be the closest Washington would come the rest of the way, as Centre picked up two points when a bad snap on a punt on the next Washington possession sailed out of the end zone for a safety and added four more touchdowns. Haden found Blake Martin (Lexington, Ky.) for a 13-yard touchdown on the next series before a 51-yard field goal by Washington's Alex Hallwachs made the halftime score 29-10.
As the second half got underway, Haden found tight ends Brandon Kamp and Kurt Wilhelmus for five-yard touchdown passes on consecutive possessions to take a 43-10 lead, then Coulter capped the Centre scoring on the day with a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Washington added a field goal and a touchdown in the closing minutes to arrive at the 50-20 final score.
With the win, Centre stays perfect at 4-0 on the year while Washington, a playoff team in 2013, drops to 1-3. After a week off, Centre opens its Southern Athletic Association schedule when it hosts Berry at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 11.