Offensive struggles doom Central in 27-21 loss to Opelika

Central coach Jamey DuBose made sure his team knew two things after it lost 27-21 to Opelika on Friday at Garrett-Harrison Stadium.

One, it was a non-region game with no impact on playoff standings, and the sun would rise again Saturday morning. Two, the Bulldogs “whipped” the Red Devils up front on both sides of the ball, and the latter needed to improve that area quickly as it re-enters region play against Smiths Station next week.

“We couldn’t establish the run,” DuBose said. “They did a good job to beat us at the line of scrimmage. Offensively, defensively, they whipped us.”

Despite the struggles up front, Central still had its chances to win the game late. It tied the game at 21-21 on a 63-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Quan Weaver to Justyn Ross on a short crossing route. Ross got the ball at midfield and outran the secondary to complete the scoring play.

It took only four plays for Opelika to respond with a lead it would not relinquish.

Running back Josh Johnson ran 3 yards to open the drive, and then quarterback Jake Bentley hit back-to-back long passes of 43 and 29 yards to set the Bulldogs up at the Central 5-yard line. Johnson ran it the rest of the way to go ahead 27-21 with 10:13 left.

Central had two more offensive possessions to try and take advantage of a missed extra point, but punted after a three-and-out on its first and turned the ball over on downs on its final possession.

After a so-so first half, Bentley found success in the second. He finished the game 11-of-21 passing for 224 yards passing, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“My hat’s off to that quarterback,” DuBose said. “He’s a great quarterback. We’ve got to get better in our secondary. We had some chances, but we just couldn’t make the plays and he took advantage of us.”

On the other sideline, Weaver was strong in the first half, completing six of his nine passes for 115 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. One of those touchdowns was a 69-yard toss to Ross, who caught a wide-open pass and kept his balanced despite being hit by three different Opelika defenders. He ran the final 30 yards for a score to tie the game at 14-14 in the second quarter.

In the second half, though, Weaver couldn’t get on the same page with his wide receivers. He threw seven straight incompletions and took a couple of losses in the run game that DuBose suggested he should have thrown away.

He did recover for the 63-yard touchdown pass to Ross to tie the game at 21-21, but he also threw a second interception and the Central offense couldn’t get out of neutral for most of the final 24 minutes.

“I don’t know if he pressed a little bit or what, but we’ve got to know when to throw the ball away,” DuBose said. “But, that’s a learning experience for him. It was a non-region game. We’ve got region games coming up, and our goal is to win the region.”

In the first half, Opelika scored on its first drive of the night, driving 86 yards in just six plays to take an early 7-0 lead. On the second play from scrimmage, Bentley found a wide-open Caleb Florence, who outran potential tacklers for a 56-yard gain to the Central 23-yard line. The Red Devils defense looked to have the drive locked up, holding Johnson to no gain on the next play and sacking Bentley for a 2-yard loss.

On the ensuing third-and-12, Bentley dodged pressure and floated a pass over a defender into Johnson’s hands for a 23-yard gain to the 2. Johnson capped the drive with a 2-yard dive up the middle.

Central responded on its second offensive possession, moving 53 yards on seven plays to tie the score at seven apiece. Jaxton Carson got the drive going on a 29-yard pass from Weaver. The next five plays, all runs, went for a combined 19 yards, but Weaver found Jamal Couch on the left side of the end zone on a short back-shoulder fade for a 5-yard score.

In the second quarter, Central began a drive from its own 15 and moved to the 22 on a 7-yard run by Couch, but fumbled on the next play to give the Bulldogs the ball at the Central 15-yard line. It took Opelika one play to get back on the board, a 15-yard pass from Bentley to James Moss to go ahead 14-7.

The Red Devils tied the game on their next drive, taking just four plays to go 83 yards. Weaver completed two passes for 12 yards and ran for another 2 before hitting a wide-open Ross for a 63-yard score.

Ross finished the game with four catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Friday at Garrett-Harrison Stadium

Opelika 7 7 7 6—27

Central 7 7 0 7—21

First Quarter

O—Josh Johnson 2 run (Jack Slay kick); 9:36

C—Jamal Couch 5 pass from Quan Weaver (Eric Powell kick); 3:47

Second Quarter

O—James Moss 15 pass from Jake Bentley (Slay kick); 7:37

C—Justyn Ross 69 pass from Weaver (Powell kick); 5:37

Third Quarter

O—Kyle Fourtenbary 15 pass from Bentley (Slay kick); 8:56

Fourth Quarter

C—Ross 63 pass from Weaver (Powell kick); 11:05

O—Johnson 5 run (kick failed); 10:13

Records: Opelika, 6-0; Central 4-2. Next: Central, Friday vs. Smiths Station at home.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Offensive struggles doom Central in 27-21 loss to Opelika."