NATCHEZ — Centreville completely dominated Central Private in all statistical categories Saturday afternoon except for one. And that was the one that mattered.

Central Private scored a touchdown with seven seconds left in the game to take a 13-12 win over the Tigers in Centreville’s District 5-AA opener.

Centreville (2-2, 0-1) outgained Central Private 273-173 and had 13 first downs to Central Private’s nine.

However, three fumbles, including one inside their own 15-yard line doomed the Tigers.

“I felt like we whipped them in the stats,” Centreville assistant coach Brian Stutzman said. “Turnovers killed us. You can’t beat a good team like Central Private by making the mental and physical mistakes we made. There’s no excuse.”

The game was scoreless through three quarters before Central Private finally got on the board with a short touchdown drove.

A Centreville fumble set Central Private up at the Tiger 13-yard line and Bobby Muse scored on a 3-yard run a few plays later to give Central Private a 7-0 lead following Gabe Wilkinson’s extra point.

Centreville struck back with a touchdown on a 31-yard run by Cliff Hurst with 3:50 remaining but the Tigers still trailed after the two-point conversion run failed.

Centreville then stopped Central Private on three plays and forced a punt, and it looked like the Tigers might escape with a win after Zac Sinclair broke free for a 66-yard touchdown run with 1:35 remaining.

It was the exclamation point for Sinclair, who rushed for 224 yards on 26 carries.

However, the tired Centreville defense couldn’t hold the lead.

Central Private had a 47-yard pass that put them at the Centreville 15 in the final minute and then a facemask penalty brought the ball down to the 4-yard line.

Muse then scored on the next play with just seven seconds left to win the game.

“For this to be our first district game and be as important as it was, I’m disappointed in our mental effort,” Stutzman said. “Things have got to change. If we don’t start taking this seriously and want to win, it’s going to be a long season for us.”