CENTREVILLE &045; Bill Hurst

celebrated a white knuckler with his Centreville Tigers in the corners of their spacious locker room, slipped outdoors to greet his many admirers and strolled back into the C-shaped office where he sank into a comfortable recliner.

Hurst’s throne was the perfect hideaway to review how his Tigers (5-3) grinded out a 14-7 victory over Adams County Christian School Friday night.

For the Rebels (4-4), which are mired in a three-game slump, it’s late to bed, early to wake today, as head coach Keith Walters was a bit dismayed with his team’s lackluster performance.

&uot;It was like that all week. We didn’t prepare well, but that’s my fault,&uot; Walters said. &uot;The coaches and I didn’t get them ready to play this game. It was a game between two district games, but that shouldn’t matter.&uot;

Scoreless through the three quarters, ACCS cut the 14-0 Tiger lead in half with less than two minutes expired in the fourth quarter.

A 24-yard Dustin Case strike to tight end David Trisler moved the ball down to the Centreville 27, where Case hit Ray Simpson on a slant route, which Simpson took to the end zone for a 14-7 score.

It was a complete reversal of a first half that saw the Rebels’ receiving corps drop numerous passes, some of which happened in the end zone and negated drives.

&uot;Anytime you start dropping passes, you kind of think you’re snakebitten,&uot; said Hurst, who is in his 27th season as head coach of Centreville. &uot;My hat goes off to them. (AC) played the hearts out in the second half. We got very concerned about their passing. They just kept coming at us.&uot;

AC appeared as though it was in line to draw even when a poor Centreville punt on the ensuing possession gave the Rebels the ball nestled at the Tiger 35-yard line.

Workhorse Luke Ogden, who finished the night with 25 carries for 132 yards but never had his customary jailbreak run, rushed for a first down to move the ball to the 24.

However, the Centreville ‘D’ bowed up to the challenge, stuffing Ogden for short yardage on an option pitch and a dive.

The Tigers routinely put six men on the line and jammed the box to impede the bullying of Ogden.

&uot;We prepared to see six up front, so that didn’t surprise us,&uot; Walters said. &uot;The difference in the game was their play of both lines. When you dominate there, it makes it tough for the other team to win.&uot;

On fourth and 8 from the 22, Walters rolled up his sleeves for a little trickery with a halfback pass from Case, who took the pitch from Timmy Foster.

It wasn’t meant to be as Tiger defensive lineman Dustin Sellers wrapped Case up before he got the pass airborne.

&uot;I thought the defense played its best all night after (the Rebels) scored,&uot; Hurst said. &uot;That kind of woke them up, and they came alive.&uot;

Walters said it was Centreville’s ability to dominate both lines of scrimmage throughout that impressed him.

No better example could be found than on AC’s first drive when the Tiger front did not allow Ogden to break a screen pass to the outside on another fourth down failure.

It led to the Tigers’ opening score as they went 12 plays and drained six minutes off the clock to put AC on its heels, with a trio of backs led by Blake Devall.

&uot;That’s vintage Coach Hurst. Devall is awfully good,&uot; Walters said of the Centreville senior who finished with 113 yards on 26 rushes.

Devall capped the methodical drive with a 2-yard plunge for the early 7-0 lead, 114 seconds from the first quarter horn.

On their next possession, the Tigers completely reverted, as quarterback Jennings Field hit Chase Paulk on a quick slant for a favorable pickup.

Paulk did the rest as he stuck his cleats in the ground, pivoted, swiped at two streaking AC defenders and rocketed to the end zone from 43 yards out and a 14-0 lead with 9:19 before half.

&uot;It was a great pass from Jennings Field and Chase Paulk took off with it,&uot; Hurst said. &uot;(Field) has pretty good vision and throws the ball well.&uot;

Walters like what he saw from his team in the final 24 minutes, but unfortunately he knew it was a mute point.

&uot;The second half we obviously played much better,&uot; he said. &uot;I thought we came out with a lot more intensity. But you can’t go on the road against a good team and play just a half. I thought we were very flat.&uot;