CORONA, CA - Friday night featured a highly anticipated Inland Empire vs. Los Angeles clash between Corona Centennial and Narbonne. While both were top 10 state teams heading in, Centennial completely dominated on its home field, by a whopping final score of 52-6.
The first play from scrimmage was indicative of what was to come for Narbonne (2-2), as the Gauchos were instantly pushed back five yards due to an illegal substitution penalty.
A quick three-and-out gave the ball to Centennial (3-1), and the Husky wasted little time getting on the board. Centennial marched down the field in six plays, and Thomas Kinslow finished off the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Rutgers-commit Jalen Chatman and the rest of the Narbonne offense continued to struggle, failing to find any kind of rhythm with another three-and-out. For the second time in two minutes, Centennial scored, this time on a 29-yard dash to the end zone by Octavio Cortes.
Midway through the second quarter, with the score 14-0, Centennial started to blow the game open. From 20 yards out, Tanner McKee threw a screen pass to Cortes, who extended Centennial’s lead to 21-0 with his second touchdown of the day.
Cortes wasn’t done just yet. The junior running back padded his stats with a 13-yard touchdown run, putting the Huskies up 28-0 at the half.
“I just always try to stay ready, and feed off the rest of the great guys we have in this backfield,” he said.
To open the third quarter, Centennial continued to dominate the Narbonne defense, adding three more on a 30-yard field goal. Another Narbonne offensive possession led to another three-and-out, giving Centennial yet another chance to build on its lead.
The Huskies continued to pour it on for the rest of regulation. Narbonne finally responded with an 80-yard touchdown run by Jermar Jefferson, but failed on a two-point conversion. A Kinslow touchdown, Chris Venable pick six and fourth Cortes touchdown completed the Centennial 46-point blowout.
McKee finished with 241 yards through the air, while Kinslow and Cortes combined for 188 yards on the ground. For Narbonne, Chatman threw for 70 yards and Jefferson added 96 rushing yards.
