After giving up points for just the second time this season, the Page High School Patriots (9-0, 4-0) reeled off 28 unanswered points in the second half to cruise to a 49-7 victory over 5A Region 6 rival Centennial High School Cougars (5-4, 2-2) on the road Friday night.
Page quarterback Mitchell Grandjean found a streaking Knight Wilson on a 53-yard touchdown connection on third down to open the third quarter and give the Patriots a 28-7 lead. Grandjean finished the game with four total touchdowns, three through the air and one on the ground.
Wilson nabbed two touchdown receptions of 53 and 47 yards to lead the Page receiving corps.
“First drive, [Grandjean] threw a fade, and Knight made a great play on the ball,” Patriots head coach Charles Rathbone said. “Later on, [in the second half] they lost Knight in coverage for a long pass down the sideline. He played pretty well at times tonight, still got some things to improve on, but he played pretty good.”
Later in the third quarter, Page converted a Centennial fumble into a 9-yard touchdown a few plays later by Wisconsin commit Brenden Anes, which put the score at 35-7 and pretty much ended any chance of a comeback.
Anes got his second touchdown, capping a three-play drive after a muffed punt gave Page the ball inside the five, from 2 yards out with 10:36 left to play in the fourth.
Centennial fumbled on the next play from scrimmage and gave Page the ball deep in the red zone. Presley Cozart capped the scoring two plays later with an 11-yard touchdown.
The game looked like it was going to be a runaway early with the way the Patriots pounced in the first quarter.
The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half. They got things started on their first drive when Grandjean hit Wilson for a 47-yard touchdown.
Running back Isaac Otey added a added a 1-yard touchdown on the next Patriot drive, and Grandjean scored a 12-yard touchdown on the next possession to begin the second quarter.
Page’s defense held the Cougars offense in check for most of the first half, but a kickoff return by Centennial’s Kani Johnson to the 48-yard line jumpstarted an eight-play drive capped off by a 15-yard touchdown reception by Johnson to make the score 21-7 with 9:07 left to play in the second quarter.
“I think we kind of had a bad second quarter,” Rathbone said. “We had a couple drives back-to-back where we fumbled the ball, and that is something that we haven’t done all year. That is something we will work on this week in practice.”
Through nine games, the Patriots offense has outscored opponents 355-13.
The Cougars became only the second team to score on the Patriots this season, joining James Lawson, which lost to the Patriots 49-6 a few weeks ago.
“Centennial is a good team,” Rathbone said. “They had a couple of unfortunate plays in the second half when they fumbled the ball and dropped the punt. We capitalized on a turnover. Our defense was able to hold, and they didn’t capitalize. I think that was the difference.”
Centennial failed to capitalize on two fumbles by the Patriots later in the second quarter and the score remained 21-7 at halftime.
The Cougars’ two fumbles in the second half stopped any chance of regaining the momentum in the game.
Next week, Centennial will finish the regular season hosting Hillsboro. The Patriots will travel to Nolensville next week for the regular season finale, which will decide seeding for the playoffs in two weeks.
“Next week is for the region championship,” Rathbone said. “The winner is one, the loser is two. Obviously, the one seed will host the first three rounds. That is what we want. That puts us in good position to have those games at home, and that is the goal right now.”
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