Wildcats head to round two

RAINSVILLE - Central, making its first playoff appearance since 2002, is sticking around for a little while longer.

The Wildcats took advantage of Plainview miscues in a 31-28 victory Friday night

in the opening of the Class 4A.

Plainview fumbled four times, losing three, and two of those went toward Wildcat touchdowns.

"We talk before every game about losing fumbles," said Bears coach Dale Pruitt. "We lost a game tonight in which we never had to punt. Turnovers took care of it for us."

Neither team's punter got much duty. Central's Nick Brewer punted twice, for an 81-yard total.

"After our loss last week (to Lexington), I was worried we might lose our edge," said Central coach Brent Palmer. "But when we got to practice Monday, I could see the focus in their eyes. We had playoff-caliber practices all week."

Central (7-4) took an early 7-0 lead on Taylor Hayes' 15-yard run midway through the first quarter.

Plainview (6-5) tied it on Will Ingle's 3-yard run.

It took only 29 seconds for Central to break the tie as Sloan Dickerson passed 16 yards to Darian Howell. That followed a 62-yard connection to Dalton Wilson.

Plainview's first turnover, a fumble recovery by Ben Siegel at the PHS 27, set up Brewer's 15-yard TD run for a 19-7 halftime lead.

Plainview scored twice in the third quarter to take a 21-19 lead as Trey Heymon caught a 31-yard touchdown pass and Jordan Fee scored on a 3-yard run.

Once again, it didn't take Central very long to reclaim the lead as Dickerson capped a five-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 25-21 lead.

"I told our coaches that we didn't want to play too conservative," Palmer said. "We were playing to win and they did a great job of mixing up the offense and defense."

Central stopped Plainview's next drive with a fumble recovery. Howell sealed the win with a 1-yard touchdown run for a 31-21 lead.

The Bears cut the lead to 31-28 with 1:23 to play, but Central ran out the clock for the win and a trip to Deshler in the second round.