Centennial keeps road roll going into 6A semis

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

QUEEN CREEK — The No. 14 seed in this year’s 6A football playoffs, the Centennial Coyotes, will be back on the road to Queen Creek the weekend of Nov. 29 for the semifinals.

That’s something they look forward to, as it means the Coyotes are still alive.

Coyotes coach Richard Taylor his team will prepare and study in advance of that trip to take on No. 2-seed Queen Creek in the semifinals. That would be the same type of preparation he encouraged in the week leading up to Centennial’s 37-14, Nov. 22 quarterfinal win at No. 11 Casteel.

“Our offensive line worked hard all week, studied their opponent, and really looked confident out there tonight,” Taylor said after his team eliminated Casteel. “And our defensive staff did an excellent job preparing and knowing which of their guys could really hurt us, and we tried to minimize what they could do.”

The Coyotes (5-7) dominated nearly every aspect of the game at Casteel, starting by forcing the host Colts (6-6) into three-and-outs three times in the first half. They held the Colts to 57 total yards in the first half, with the Coyote offense cashing in on excellent field position the defense helped create.

Coyotes junior quarterback Kainan Manna finished three drives with short touchdown passes in the first half — to senior Nikko Boncore-Montoya and to freshmen Torrin Hill and Jhaheem Brown —as Centennial staked out a 20-0 halftime lead.

Centennial sophomore Darrion Bartholomew tries to run through the tackle of Casteel senior Micah Schwertfeger in the Coyotes’ Nov. 22 6A quarterfinal win at Casteel. Bartholomew had almost 150 yards on 22 carries and scored a touchdown in the win over the Colts.

Independent Newsmedia/Jason W. Brooks

The Colts pulled to within 27-14 in the final minute of the third quarter. Colts senior QB Paul Palmer seemed to finally find a rhythm, completing a 53-yard pass and helping set up the score.

But Centennial’s defense stepped up, snuffing out a fourth-quarter Casteel drive by blowing up a screen pass on fourth down.

A lengthy break occurred when senior Casteel defensive end Zane Holden was taken from the field using a backboard, and transported by ambulance with a possible serious injury. No word was available on his condition, as of his writing.

That break happened with 5:08 left in the game on a play in which Casteel forced the Coyotes into a 4th-and-long from the Colts 14-yard line. After the break, Aaron Alvarez nailed a 31-yard field goal on the next play to make it 30-14.

“That could have given them some energy, if we would have missed that (field goal attempt),” Taylor said. “We saw what they did at Highland last week, wiping out that 24-0 halftime deficit. We didn’t want to let them get going.”

Sophomore running back Darrion Bartholomew powered into the end zone from 1 yard out in the game’s final minute to salt the game away. He finished with 147 rushing yards on 22 carries.

“We thought we were going to play more running backs,” Taylor said. “But he kept running well, and running hard.”

Maana finished 13-of-20 for 124 yards with no interceptions and four touchdowns. As a team, the Coyotes outgained the hosts in total yards, 411 to 265, unofficially.

Centennial minimized mistakes, limited penalties to 5 for 40 yards and only turning the ball over once. The Colts were flagged 10 times for 84 yards, with at least one member of the coaching staff ejected in the game’s final minutes.

Taylor said he has a different team than he had on Oct. 18, when his Coyotes came back from Queen Creek after a humbling 31-21 defeat. They’ll head back to the Southeast Valley on Friday, Nov. 29 to face the host No. 2 Bulldogs (10-2).

“I think our kids got off the bus that night, took a look around, and thought ‘We’re going to do all right,” Taylor said. “But Queen Creek, they showed us a thing or two.”

Friday, Nov. 22
6A playoffs — Quarterfinals
CENTENNIAL 37, CASTEEL 14
Ce 7 13 7 10—37
Ca 0 0 14 0—14
Scoring: CE, 5:16 1st, Kainan Manna 11 pass to Nikko Boncore-Montoya (Jeremiah Harvey kick); CE, 11:25 2Q, Manna 20 pass to Torrin Hill (kick failed); CE, 24.4 2nd, Maana 11 pass to Jhaheem Brown (Harvey kick); CA, 9:33 3rd, Paul Palmer 21 pass to Elijah Beamon (Rayden Aguinaga kick); CE, 2:58 3rd, Maana 6 pass to Shamar Berryhill (Harvey kick); CA, Isaiah Linyear 6 run (Aguinaga kick); CE, 5:08 4th, Aaron Alvarez 31 FG; CE, 34.8, Darrion Bartholomew 1 run (Harvey kick).
Team statistics
1st downs: CE 27; CA 14. Rushes-Yds: CE 39-287; CA 20-72. Passing: CE 13-20-0—124; CA 13-21-0—193. Total Off.: CE 411; CA 265. Pen.-Yds: CE 5-40; CA 10-84. Fumbles-lost: CE 2-1; CA 0-0. Punts-Avg.: CE 3-42.66; CA 5-29.8. Rec.: CE 5-7; CA 6-6.

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INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.