The Corrigan-Camden Bulldogs fell 42-14 to the Centerville Tigers in the last regular season matchup on Friday.
Similar to last season’s match versus Centerville, the Bulldogs could not keep pace with the Tigers’ aggressive ground game, as costly turnovers and penalties stopped potential scoring drives throughout the night.
“If we cannot line up correctly and overcome penalties, you cannot win a ball game,” said Bulldog head coach Brett Ratliff. “We were executing in moving the ball, but we had those costly fumbles and kept jumping when [their defensive line] was stemming, which was part of their strategy they used against us. I think Centerville is starting to play its best football and that is dangerous for the other teams in our region.”
Centerville takes the second-place spot in district, while the Bulldogs finish the regular season in third place.
Corrigan will play the Garrison Bulldogs in Jacksonville for the first playoff round this week.
“Based on what I saw with Garrison versus Joaquin, this should be a good match. We just have to come out and play a great football game. If we do, it should go down to the end,” Ratliff said.
Two false start penalties set Corrigan’s offense too far back on the opening possession in Friday’s game, which led to a three-and-out.
Centerville wasted no time running it up the gut to march down the field. Tiger senior quarterback Wyatt Burleson converted on a third-down run into the red zone.
Tiger sophomore back Cooper Wilson later ran up the middle for a six-yard touchdown to help take the 7-0 lead for Centerville in the first quarter.
Bulldog junior running back Derrick Reagie changed direction in the backfield for a huge gain on the next Corrigan possession. However, the Bulldogs stalled out in Centerville territory and turned the ball over on downs.
Corrigan’s defense managed to force a Centerville punt, which led to a scoring opportunity at the start of the second quarter.
Bulldog senior quarterback William Ratliff capitalized and took a 48-yard keeper all the way into the end zone for a touchdown. This made it a 7-7 ball game.
The Tigers continued to attack on the ground for big gains to quickly get into Corrigan territory.
A bad snap set Centerville's offense back on that possession, but Jeromy Rosales made a clutch reception on fourth down to put the ball at the one-yard line. This led to Tiger junior running back Amarius Phillips punching in a one-yard touchdown and taking a 13-7 lead for Centerville after the missed extra kick.
Reagie tried to keep another play alive, getting tackled in the backfield and ended up fumbling the ball back to Centerville late in the half.
On fourth-and-goal, Wilson scored a one-yard touchdown run to extend the lead for Centerville 19-7 going into halftime after a blocked extra kick.
Centerville started the third quarter with a scoring drive ending with another short touchdown run by Phillips to further extend the lead 27-7 with a two-point conversion.
Another forced fumble turnover made things worse for Corrigan and gave the Tigers another scoring opportunity. This led to Wilson getting another rushing touchdown to make it 35-7 with the extra two-point run.
The Bulldogs eventually found their rhythm on the ground entering the fourth with some power running from junior back Nemo Marshall.
On fourth-and-goal, Ratliff would power up the middle for a Corrigan touchdown in order to cut the deficit 35-14 late.
The Tigers would draw a flag for roughing the passer to keep a late drive alive. Tiger sophomore back Jake Gray carried in the short rushing touchdown to extend the lead again in the final moments.
