CENTERBURG — The Centerburg football team was clicking on all cylinders Friday night, and Loudonville paid the price.
The Trojans roared to a 26-0 halftime bulge, and much of the second half was played with a running clock as coach Andy Collella’s squad rolled to a 41-0 victory.
“I think one thing that we’re pretty good at is being really physical, and I thought they played really physical again tonight,” Collella said. “That tends to be a difference maker more times than not.”
The Trojans’ aim was to offer a balanced offense, but the defense was even better.
“Defensively, I thought we played pretty well,” the coach said. “We shut them down, shut them out.”
The Trojans are now 4-1 overall, 2-0 in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference. Centerburg is at Cardington next week.
Meanwhile, Loudonville drops to 2-3, 0-2.
“We knew coming in they had a lot of weapons; their skill kids are very good,” Redbirds coach Ed Honabarger said. “They have a good offense, and they’re big and strong up front, so we knew that they’re probably the best team on our schedule.
“We knew they were definitely the best team left on our schedule, and probably, I think overall after playing them and Hillsdale, they might be a little bit better than Hillsdale. Which is a scary thought because Hillsdale’s obviously really good.”
The ‘Birds have dropped three straight after a promising start.
“You hate to say you have to play perfect, but you have to minimize mistakes, and we had way too many mistakes tonight. And similar to last week, we had some ball security issues,” Honabarger said. “When we get something going, then we get a penalty and it puts us back. We’re just not built to play behind the sticks. All of a sudden it’s 1st and 20, 2nd 20.
“We aren’t built for that; we’re a couple of years away from being able to do that.”
Loudonville will host Danville next week.
“We were 0-10 last year. We’ve improved. It’s just we’ve got to keep getting better,” Honabarger said.
“When adversity hits, we have to be able to get through the adversity, and that’s sort of a sticking point for us right now, is trying to work through that adversity when things get a little bit tough and you know, have the mentality to charge through it.”
