Centauri football travels to meet No. 7 Florence on Friday

ALAMOSA — The Centauri Falcons (6-1) are looking good once again. They have not lost in their own class thus far this season.

The lone smirch on their record came at the hands of Pagosa Springs in a 31-12 game. The Pagosa Pirates play in the 2A Intermountain League among the likes of Alamosa.

On offense Centauri has made their money on the ground thanks to senior Taj Cornum. Cornum has been a staple of the offense all season long collecting 70 of the Falcons’ 130 rushing attempts. Cornum has turned those 70 attempts into 413 yards and six touchdowns averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Through the air the Falcons rely on junior Eric Maez under center. Maez is completing better than 60 percent of his passes this year for nine touchdowns. The primary threats receiving for Centauri are Zach Martin and Mason Claunch.  Martin leads the team in receptions and yards while Claunch owns the team lead in receiving touchdowns with 6.

This week the Falcons face what amounts to their largest in-class challenge this year. Like the Falcons, Florence sports a 6-1 record. Also like Centauri the Huskies are ranked in the top ten of the CHSAA RPI unofficial rankings’ (No. 7).

Florence is heavily slanted towards the run, handing it off a whopping 87 percent of the time. With passers completing at a 39 percent clip with four interceptions it’s not hard to see why they'd rather hand it off. 

On the ground the Huskies have two primary threats Rayden Swallow and Owen Busetti. Swallow leads the team in rushing yards- 809, and touchdowns- 10. Busetti trails in both stats but the fact that he’s logged 8 touchdowns of his own should merit him extra attention as well.

With such a run heavy offense the Huskies will be likely to brandish some tricky plays and formations to feign balance when they have the ball. The passers aren’t terribly accurate but do find ways to contribute. Joshua Martinez is an effective rusher with 4.7 yards per carry and five touchdowns. While Sean Kelso -with ten passing attempts and two receiving touchdowns doesn’t figure to pass from under center. It's more likely Kelso is part of a double passing play that may show itself on Friday night.

When the Huskies don’t have the ball they have proven to have a stingy defense allowing on average 5.16 points per game in their wins.  Unlike Centauri, the Huskies’ lone loss of the season did happen in class, against No. 2 Peyton. Not only did they lose, they suffered a 41-0 shut-out showing the difference between No. 2 and No. 7.

Centauri will attempt to show that there is distance between fourth and seventh place as well Friday night when they travel to Florence start time is set for 7 p.m.