Central's late rally comes up short against McGill-Toolen

The band fired up the fight song with players and fans locked arm-in-arm singing along in celebration.

For Central fans at Garrett-Harrison Stadium Friday night, the party was happening on the wrong sidelines following a disappointing 26-21 loss to McGill-Toolen in the AHSAA Class 7A semifinals.

After a short trophy presentation, Central coach Jamey DuBose acknowledged the heartache of watching an opposing team celebrate on the Red Devils’ home field with his players.

“It hurts,” DuBose said. “When we get back here, I want you to remember this.”

The loss dropped Central to 1-2 in state semifinal appearances. In 2011, the Red Devils lost to a Prattville team coached by a familiar face in DuBose. 

“We made the semifinals, but it still wasn’t good enough,” DuBose said. “Third time in the history and that’s great, but here at Central we want a state championship. We deserve to be in the state championship and our fans deserve it. We need to figure out what to do to get over the hump.”

A two-touchdown rally in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough to overcome a series of special teams miscues, turnovers and penalties that prevented the Red Devils from a shot at competing for a title.

“I always say that in these ball games the best team sometimes don’t win, but the team that night does,” DuBose said. “Tonight that was McGill.”

Jaxton Carson 2-yard touchdown run put Central within five, 26-21, with 1:13 left. It was Central's second touchdown of the quarter to put them within one possession.

Christian Allen caught his second touchdown pass of the game with 6:16 remaining.

McGill-Toolen put the game away by recovering the onside and running the clock out.

It was a turnover early in the third quarter that put Central in a three-score deficit it couldn't recover from.

Quarterback Quan Weaver put a little too much air into his first pass attempt of the second half. The wide receiver turned quarterback could only watch as the ball sailed 5 yards past his intended target into the hands of defensive back Josh Williams.

Williams returned the ball 50-plus yards to the Central's 23-yard line.

"You can’t fault him,” DuBose said. “Not one player lost this game. Not one play lost the game. It was the culmination of a lot of things."

McGill-Toolen quarterback Paris Chambers scored his second rushing touchdown of the game three plays later to make it 20-7. Chambers would also score on a reverse-pass from Marlon Williams in the fourth quarter to give his team a 26-7 lead.

Central found itself playing from behind minutes into the game thanks to a blocked punt on its first offensive possession.

After the Yellow Jackets recovered the ball at the Red Devils' 14-yard line, Chambers scored on a keeper from the spot with 9:44 to go in the first.

McGill-Toolen used a short field again to add to the lead early in the second quarter. When it returned a 32-yard punt 29 yards inside Central's 45-yard line.

A personal foul at the end of the play on the Red Devils' special teams unit put the ball at the 27-yard line.

“I’m a firm believer, if you aren’t solid in special teams, you aren’t going to win,” DuBose said. “We weren’t very good in special teams tonight.”

Running back Terrell Kennedy scored from 10 yards out to make it 14-0 with 8:57 to go in the half.

Central had the better half offensively outgaining McGill-Toolen 182 to 85 yards in total offense but failed to establish its ground game.

Without star starting receiver Justyn Ross, Weaver also had trouble going down field.

Weaver's success came mostly on quick screen passes to Allen. Allen's first touchdown came on a short gain that he turned into a 30-yard score.

Allen finished the game with 11 catches for 121 yards with the pair of scores.

Weaver had more than 200 yards passing, but was limited to less than 20 yards on the ground. As a team Central, didn't have more than 75 yards rushing.

Friday at Garrett-Harrison Stadium

McGill-Toolen 7 7 6 6--26

Central 0 7 0 14--21

First Quarter

M - Paris Chambers 14 run (Charles Green kick), 9:44

Second Quarter

M - Terrell Kennedy 10 run (Green kick), 8:57

C - Christian Allen 30 yard pass from Quan Weaver (Emilio Varelo kick), 8:16

Third Quarter

M - Chambers 3 run (Green kick failed), 6:52

Fourth Quarter

M - Chambers 9 pass from Marlon Williams (two-point conversion failed), 11:52

C - Allen 36 pass from Weaver (Varelo kick), 6:16

C--Carson 2 run (Varelo kick), 1:13

Records: McGill-Toolen 12-1. Central 9-4. Next: McGill-Toolen, vs. Spain Park, Dec. 2, state finals. Central, season over.

Michael Niziolek covers Auburn football for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Email him at mniziolek@ledger-enquirer.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Central's late rally comes up short against McGill-Toolen ."