NEWS RELEASE

Berry spoiled Centre’s homecoming and the  grand reopening of Andy Frye Stadium on Saturday, edging the Colonels 31-30.

Berry controlled the tempo in the opening quarter, marching into the red zone on their first drive and kicking a short field goal. The Vikings drove inside the 20 on their next drive as well, but the Centre defense held and this time the field goal was no good as Berry led 3-0 after one quarter.

On Centre’s first series of the second period, the Colonels reached Berry territory for the second time and capitalized as Nick Osterman threw a strike to Greer Stone, who broke a pair of tackles and spun his way into the end zone to give Centre a 7-3 lead.

The defenses regained control of the game for the rest of the second quarter until the Colonels caught a break right before halftime. A muffed punt gave Centre the ball deep into Berry territory with less than a minute left. Osterman ran the ball to the Berry 1 in the final seconds and Cam Tegge kicked a chip shot field goal as time expired to give the Colonels a 10-3 lead at the half.

The Colonels had a short field to start their first drive of the third quarter and took advantage as they quickly advanced into the red zone. A pass from Osterman to Stone put the ball at the 1, and although a penalty moved them back, Centre still capped off the drive with a score as Dameon Jones Jr. dashed in from seven yards out to make it 17-3.

The rest of the third quarter became a battle for field position, which went the way of the Vikings. The Centre defense snuffed out a pair of promising Berry drives in the quarter. Duerell Bard made a big stop on fourth down to kill one drive, and then Nick Grant picked off an errant pass to give Centre the ball back on the last play of the period.

In the fourth quarter, the Berry offense came alive, connecting on some big plays to quickly march down the field and score a pair of touchdowns to tie the game.

The Colonels responded on their next drive. After being stuffed several times in short yardage situations, Centre hit a big one with five minutes to go as Will McDaniel sprinted 67 yards up the middle for a go-ahead touchdown that put the Colonels up 24-17.

Needing to go 68 yards to tie the game, the Vikings converted a key 4th & 12 to keep the drive alive and eventually tied the score on a one-yard dive by Brandon Cade with five seconds left in the game to send it to overtime.

Centre won the overtime coin toss and deferred, giving Berry the ball first. The Vikings faced 3rd & goal from the Centre 5 and converted a touchdown pass to take their first lead at 31-24.

On Centre’s overtime possession, McDaniel and Osterman ran the Colonels all the way to the Berry 4. On 4th & 1, Osterman kept the ball on the read option and reached the end zone untouched. However the Vikings blocked the extra point attempt to preserve a one-point margin of victory.