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By Ernest Bowker

The Vicksburg Post

A week of heavy rain turned the field at Centreville Academy into a pit of muck, and the action on the field Friday night matched the setting perfectly.

Centreville assistant coach Brian Stutzman said the two teams were locked into a defensive struggle.

Tyler Wooley scored the game’s only touchdown on a 10-yard run early in the second quarter, and Centreville Academy grinded out an 8-0 win over St. Aloysius.

“People couldn’t get a good footing. We would move the ball well but couldn’t get something going with penalties on big plays,” Stutzman said.

“It was just a slugfest,” St. Al coach Bubba Nettles said. “It was not raining, but it was an absolute swamp. There were licks being laid everywhere. We just had that one unfortunate break.”

That bad break was a fumbled punt snap that set up Centreville’s touchdown. St. Al punter Jake Brister recovered the ball, but his knee hit the ground when he picked it up at the 10-yard line.

Wooley scored on the next play, and the Tigers added the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

St. Al appeared to have a chance to tie it up in the third quarter, but a touchdown pass from Carson Smith to Damien Reeves was negated by a tripping penalty.

The teams traded possessions from there. Centreville had the last one and picked up several first downs to bleed the final five minutes off the clock. Peyton Jones picked up 10 yards on third-and-9 to get the last first down with less than two minutes to go.

“We had them on third-and-9 and they caught us with an outside running play,” Nettles said. “We got pinned inside and they picked up the first down.”

Reeves finished with 47 rushing yards, while Thompson Fortenberry had 60. Brister averaged 50 yards on four punts, and had a 68-yarder downed at the 2-yard line.

Thomas Dowe led St. Al’s defense with a team-high 10 tackles, while Jax Oglesby had three tackles and a fumble recovery. Centreville’s win is a bounce back from last weeks defeat to Bowling Green. They plan to return to preparations for Friday’s district opener against Sylva Bay Academy.

“It is always good to win and it was a win for us tonight. We are back on track,” Stutzman said. “We will have to be able to block and tackle and run well to make something happen next week. Next week will be big for us because Sylva Bay is a good team.”