Priceville dropped a 20-14 decision at home to Central in a matchup of two teams that came into the game tied for second in Class 4A, Region 8.
The Wildcats opened the game with an 80-yard scoring drive capped off by a 27-yard run with 9:42 left in the first quarter.
Priceville answered right back with a 12-play, 61-yard scoring drive. Jerry Burton ran in from 1 yard out to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:47 left in the first quarter.
Burton accounted for 48 yards rushing in the drive.
The Bulldogs took a 14-7 lead with 9:24 left in the third quarter when William Baker scored on a 16-yard run. The drive was set up by a 42-yard kickoff return by Xander Gaines that gave Priceville excellent starting position at the Wildcats’ 33-yard line.
The Wildcats added two scores in the final 6:33 of the game to pull out the 20-14 victory. Their winning score came with 29.3 seconds left.
“We had a couple of opportunities middle of the third and fourth quarters to pull away from them but did not capitalize on those,” said Priceville coach Chris Foster.
Priceville finished with 274 yards of total offense – 255 on the ground and 19 through the air. Burton ran for 104 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Wyatt Hurt had 45 yards rushing on eight carries.
“We knew going into the game it was going to be a close game,” said Foster. “Credit to Central, who capitalized on our mistakes at the end and were able to convert them into points.”
The Bulldogs (5-2, 3-2) welcomes Deshler (4-3, 4-1) to Bulldog Stadium Friday night in a crucial matchup in region play.
