By Ronnie Hagood
SYLACAUGA – The Center Point Eagles suffered their first region loss on Friday night after falling on the road, 17-6, to the Sylacauga Aggies.
“They were hungry,” Center Point head coach George Bates said. “They kept it close … We had too many chances in the first half. In that first half we had about 250 yard of offense and no points.”
In the first half, Center Point was able to move the ball at will, but self-inflicted penalties kept stalling drives. The only points in the first two quarters came on a scoop and score from Eagles linebacker Noah Steen.
The second half saw the Sylacauga offense find a rhythm after only gaining 64 yards of offense in the first half. The two-headed rushing monster of Jordan Ridgeway and Sedrick Pope both picked up long touchdown runs and Coleman Porch connected on a 23-yard field goal. The Aggies defense would bend, but never break as they held the Eagles’ offense to zero points and force five turnovers.
“Against a team like this, you have to capitalize,” Bates said. “You have to get at least two scores up to force them to throw the ball and do something that they’re not as comfortable with. We didn’t do that.”
The good news for Center Point is its still in control of its own destiny. The Eagles are now in a four-way tie with Sylacauga, Mortimer Jordan and Central-Clay County at 4-1 in Class 5A, Region 5. Center Point will travel to Moody High School next week. Moody improved to 2-3 in the region with a 25-19 win over the Springville Tigers on Friday night.
“The positive thing about this is that we still control our own destiny,” Bates said. “We win out, we’ll be region champs. This loss hurt. To be honest with you: maybe we started smelling ourselves a little too early. We moved up in the rankings. Parents, friends letting you know you’re good and this and that. A team that comes out with the same record is very hungry, and knocked us off. However you want to put it, we got shut out offensively.”
