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CENTREVILLE — Centreville Academy’s running game, led by senior Ace Sellars, continued to wear down Cathedral High School’s defense as the Tigers held on for a 43-40 win over the Green Wave at Tiger Field last Friday night in Centreville’s homecoming game.

“It was a good homecoming win for us. Kids played hard,” Tigers assistant coach Brian Stutzman said. “Offensively, we were able to run the ball and made the passes when we needed to.”

Sellars had touchdown runs of two and 61 yards around the midway point of the second quarter that gave Centreville Academy a 21-14 lead. But it seemed like every time the Tigers were about to pull away, the Green Wave had a response.

Less than two minutes into the game and with the Tigers in the red zone, Parker Nettles’ pass was picked off at the goal line by Terrance Lee, who ran it back down the sideline 100 yards for a touchdown and Tristan Fondren’s two-point conversion pass to Justin Hawkins gave Cathedral a quick 8-0 lead.

That lead lasted until the 11:22 mark of the second quarter as Garrett Jeansonne scored on a 15-yard run and his two-point conversion run tied the game at 8-all.

Fondren connected with Christopher Dillon just 38 seconds later to give Cathedral a 14-8 lead, but Sellars’ two TD runs gave the Tigers their first lead of the game. Then with 2:49 to go in a wild back-and-forth second quarter, the Green Wave took a 22-21 lead on Fondren’s 23-yard TD pass to Dillon and the two hooked up on the two-point conversion pass.

Nettles threw a 27-yard scoring pass to Hunter Wilson and Jeansonne’s two-point conversion run gave the Tigers the lead again, this time at 29-22 with 1:18 remaining in the first half. A late touchdown by Cathedral made it a 29-28 game, but the try for two was no good and the Green Wave went into halftime trailing by one point.

Kayde Redmond scored on an eight-yard run late in the third quarter and Sellars’ two-point conversion run seemed to put the game out of reach as Centreville took a 37-28 lead. But just over a minute later, Fondren threw a 38-yard TD pass on 4th-and-11 to Dillon, but again the try for two was unsuccessful and the Green Wave trailed 37-34.

“Cathedral played hard. They never gave up. We had some turnovers that kept them in the game. They never quit. The game went down to the wire,” Stutzman said. “But it was a good win for us tonight.”

The Tigers scored on a seven-yard TD run by Connor Watts to make it a 43-34 game with 5:54 left. Fondren then threw a two-yard TD pass to Lee to make it a 43-40 game with 3:28 left. But the Tigers were able to get the ball back and ran out the clock.

Cathedral (2-7) plays host to MAIS District 3-5A and cross-town rival Adams County Christian School for Senior Night next Friday at 7 p.m. Centreville Academy (7-2) plays host to Manchester Academy for Senior Night next Friday at 7 p.m.