Division I: Centennial powers its way to first big-school title
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- For the last decade Centennial has been the class of west side football.
The only thing, if anything at all, that the program could be scrutinized for, was that all the success came against the second wave of talent.
The Coyotes always played top big-school programs a couple of times a season, but they never had their chance against the big schools week in and week out.
That changed in 2015, but the winning did not.
Centennial, despite appealing down, was placed in Division I and promptly played its best football of the season in the postseason to win the big-school title with a 28-6 shellacking of Desert Ridge on Friday at University of Phoenix Stadium.
"It's a blessing," Centennial senior middle linebacker Bozton Sanders said. "DII felt good, but this one is better knowing none in Arizona is better.
"People will talk about this for years."
Seventh-seeded Centennial (12-2) controlled from the start using three-drawn out possessions in the first half, scoring all three times while the defense yielded just a field goal to the Jaguars, who came in averaging 33.5 points a game.
"If I drew up how I wanted it to go it would be to grab an early lead, defense does its part and we use our big offensive line to grind it out," Centennial coach Richard Taylor, who has been the coach for all 208 Coyotes wins and five state titles. "It couldn't have gone any better."
The Coyotes' third drive looked to stall, but on a fourth-and-1 from its own 25, Sanders' direct snap on the fake punt went 38 yards into Desert Ridge territory.
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"We had it planned all year and it was my call," Sanders said. "See it, just take it. We never used it. They gave me trust. I saw it and it just happened. The hole was there."
Five plays later, Centennial found the end zone and a 21-3 lead that was as comfy as the living room coach after the tryptophan coma takes over.
"That's something special and comes with experience," senior quarterback Isaac Steele said. "We've been here before and we know what it takes to win championships.
"You have to put points on the board and play amazing defense.
Fourth-seeded Desert Ridge (11-3) did its best to hold up -- converted some fourth downs, had an interception erased in the end zone erased by a penalty, had only one turnover and four penalties -- but seemed to have extended itself too much the week before in beating No. 1 Chandler.
"Nobody is playing as good as these guys," a bewildered Jeremy Hathcock, Desert Ridge's coach, said. "It was an old fashioned butt whipping and we were taken to the wood shed. When you let them say on the field eight minutes at a time you are not going to win. We had probably the biggest win in school history (in the semifinals) and I thought we could play with them, but of course we didn't."
Centennial opened the second half with a 7:30 minute drive, and even though it led to no points after a missed field goal, it limited the amount of possessions the Jaguars were going to get in the second half.
Desert Ridge needed a return of some sort to change the momentum, but it never came as the Coyotes won their fifth title since 2006.
They are believed to be the first team in Arizona to win a state title in one division and move up to the state's largest classification and win again.
"If we stayed healthy I thought we'd have a chance," said Taylor, who cited depth as a concern at the beginning of the year. "We only have 2,000 kids. It makes it all that more powerful to those kids that works their butts off."
All that worked showed up at UofP Stadium on Friday as the offense piled 276 yards on the ground as Quentin Gomez (106 yards, 2 TDs) and John Rincon (60 yards, 1 TD) were treated well once against by the offensive line led by Tanner Hawthorne and Co.
The defense limited the Desert Ridge running game to 62 yards and eight earned first downs four weeks after a regular season finale lost to rival Liberty had people doubting Centennial's championship potential.
"That loss shook us up," Rincon said. "It showed we had to do a lot more than that to survive in DI."
