Centennial Defeats Northview In Football Season Finale

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — The Centennial Knights won a football game Friday night they did not need to add to their victory column. However, the team is now without a player they couldn’t afford to lose as they move into the playoffs.

Senior quarterback Max Brosmer, who came into the game leading all Georgia quarterbacks in passing yardage this season, suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury late in the third quarter of the Knights’ 38-28 victory on their home field over the Northview Titans.

Centennial had already clinched second place in Region 7-AAAAAA and a home game in next week’s first round of the state playoffs. Not only will the Knights be without their standout quarterback, they will open the playoffs against the No. 4 team in the state in AAAAAA.

Allatoona was No. 4 in the state in 6A before losing to Sequoyah Friday night, creating a 3-way tie for second in Region 6, one of the strongest regions in 6A. Allatoona wound up with the No. 3 seed from the region, leaving Centennial with one of the toughest first round matchups of any 6A team with a home game.

“We’ll have to change some things,” Centennial head coach Michael Perry said after the game.

Junior Parker Sperier, who played sparingly on the varsity this season as Brosmer’s backup, will take over at quarterback after playing a handful of snaps in the win over Northview. Senior running back Cal Dickie handled most of the snaps after Brosmer’s injury, running out of the
wildcat formation. Dickie did most of the work on a clinching 75-yard drive that ate up much of the fourth quarter and led to a game-clinching 22-yard field by Denilson Silva-Banda, a senior soccer player who took over the kicking duties during the season.

Brosmer is at least the fourth key Centennial starter to go down with a serious injury this season,
starting with talented and versatile sophomore receiver Julian Nixon, who started last year as a
freshman.

“In all the years I’ve been coaching, I’ve never seen the injury bug hit like this,” said Perry, who is in his second year as the Knights’ head coach. “But it’s next man up and I think our guys will hang in there.”

Centennial got a big lift in the second half from its defensive unit, which has not exactly been a model of consistency this year and continued that trend Friday night. The Knights gave up at least 28 points for the seventh time this season, but the defense was excellent in a 14-6 win over defending region champion Alpharetta in the game that clinched home field for Centennial for its playoff opener.

Linemen Mark Mason and Jack Barton, linebacker Malachi Cleveland and cornerback Kevon Angry keyed the Knights’ second half shutout Friday after a listless first half effort in which the Knights tackled like a team that had nothing to play for.

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The Titans, who came into the game needing a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive, scored
touchdowns on four of five possessions in the first half, which ended in a 28-28 tie. Northview recovered a pooch kick on the opening kickoff, and swept 40 yards in five plays to take the early lead. A 30-yard swing pass from Beau Lark to running back Will Caylor set up a 3-yard touchdown
run by Travis Buchanan.

The Titans led 21-7 after a pair of 12-play drives that covered 74 and 80 against a Centennial defense that struggled to make tackles until a sack by Barton and Mason forced Northview’s first punt late in the half.

The Knights scored on their first series on a 63-yard drive capped by Dickie’s 5-yard run. They trailed 21-7 with five minutes to play in the half before Rekevian Mathis went 60 yards on a sideline to sideline kickoff return that gave Centennial the football at the Northview 11. It took Dickie two plays to cut into the Titans’ lead with his second scoring run, this time from 4 yards out.

After the first defensive stand by the Knights, Centennial pulled even on a second 63-yard drive, with Brosmer completing three passes for 56 yards, including a 20-yarder for the TD to Richard Shaw, who made the catch near the goal line after a Northview defensive back had the ball deflect off his hands.

The tying touchdown came with 58 seconds on the clock and began a wild final minute of the second period. On the next play from scrimmage, Caylor broke loose for 71 yards and a touchdown, but the Knights immediately retaliated on their next play – a 65-yard catch and run from Brosmer to Mathis exactly 30 seconds after Shaw’s touchdown reception.

After two quarters dominated by the offenses, the defenses took over after halftime. The Centennial defense began the third quarter with consecutive three-and-outs, and stopped Northview at the Knights’ 14 and 28 on the Titans’ next two series, the latter on an interception by Angry in the end zone. The Knights went 71 yards in only five plays on their first drive of the half, starting with a 28-yard pass from Brosmer to Freddy Fairley and ending on a 32-yard run out of the wildcat by Dickie, his third touchdown of the game.

Dickie carried eight times for 67 yards on the clinching field goal drive, with Shaw getting outside for 13 yards after his 13-yard scoring run was nullified by a penalty. Banda-Silva’s kick was the first successful field goal of the season for the Knights.

Centennial finished with 411 yards of offense, 216 on the ground. Dickie carried 24 times for 163 yards, 133 in the second half. Before his injury, Brosmer was 12 of 19 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Shaw had five receptions for 59 yards. After amassing 262 yards in the first half, Northview managed just 72 yards in the final two periods. Caylor rushed for 131 yards in the first half but was limited to 18 yards on six attempts the rest of the way. He finished with 149 yards rushing and 38 receiving. Lark was just 4 of 10 in the second half for 35 yards with an interception, and wound up with 12 completions for 123 yards.

Lark threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half – 3 yards to Zach Billings and 10 yards to
Buchanan, the latter putting the Titans ahead 21-7. Lark finished the season with 1880 yards passing and 17 touchdowns with Caylor compiling 1170 yards on the ground and 12 touchdowns. Jonathan Baker, who led the Titans with 41 catches for 825 yards and 11 touchdowns, was held without a reception by the Centennial secondary.

Centennial ended up 6-1 in the region and 7-3 overall, with Northview taking fifth with a 4-4 region mark, 5-5 overall. Alpharetta defeated Cambridge 41-21 Friday to tie Pope for third in the region, with the Raiders getting the region’s third playoff seed.

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