LA JARA – The Centauri High School football team had two late chances to win its game against Buena Vista Friday at the CHS field.
However, the Falcons missed on both chances and wound up losing to the Demons 14-12.
“As a coach, that’s what you want to do,” said Centauri coach Kyle Forster. “You want to put your kids in late to win. We just didn’t make the plays tonight.”
The game started with the teams exchanging punts and then exchanging turnovers.
The Demons got on the board first after a 12-play 85-yard drive with Eli Schuknecht capping off the possession with a 2-yard touchdown run. Reed Lundy booted the extra point and Buena Vista led 7-0.
The Falcons scored their first touchdown with 4:24 left before halftime and the drive began with a recovered fumble. The possession went 55 yards on eight plays with Sean Jarvies tossing an 11-yard scoring strike to Kiler Ullery. Josh Polkowske, however, missed the point after and Centauri trailed 7-6 going into the half.
Buena Vista extended its lead to 14-6 in the third quarter. First Schuknecht ran 40 yards to put the Demons in the red zone, then Caleb Camp ran 17 yards on a reverse for the touchdown. Lundy again made the extra point.
Centauri narrowed the deficit later in the third with Jarvies throwing an 8-yard touchdown to Deven Brady. The Falcons went for two but came up short as Parker Buhr was tackled just short of the goal line.
The first of Centauri’s fourth-quarter chances came midway through the period as the Falcons drove to the Buena Vista 22. However, they turned the ball over on downs.
After forcing the Demons to punt, the Falcons embarked on another potential scoring drive. Jarvies threw a 39-yard pass to Brady, and then a personal foul put the ball on the Buena Vista 11.
Centauri could come no closer and Polkowske came on for a 26-yard field goal attempt. The kick was on target but bounced off the crossbar to end the Falcons’ hopes of winning.
Centauri had 225 yards of total offense with 176 coming in the air. Jarvies completed 14 out of 26 passes for 169 yards and his top receiver was Brady with seven receptions for 81 yards. Ullery had four catches for 62 yards.
The Falcons had 49 rushing yards with Kaysen Johnson leading with 49 yards on 17 carries. Buhr had 41 yards on nine carries, and Brady had 35 yards on six carries.
The Demons accumulated 205 yards of total offense – 195 rushing and 20 passing.
Schuknecht led the ground game with 141 yards on 26 carries.
Hudson Wingo completed three of seven passes for 20 yards.
Centauri (1-2) will have a week off before its next game when it travels to Bayfield on Sept. 22.
“Bayfield has been playing well,” Forster said. “We’re going to have to recover this next week and fix what’s wrong and keep moving forward.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Wolverine Country Stadium.
Buena Vista 14, Centauri 12
Buena Vista 7 0 7 0 – 14
Centauri 0 6 6 0 – 12
First quarter
BV – Schuknect 2 run (Lundy kick), 1:04
Second quarter
C – Ullery 11 pass from Jarvies (kick failed), 4:24
Third quarter
BV – Camp 17 run (Lundy kick), 8:44
C - Brady 8 pass from Jarvies (run failed), 3:08
