Thanksgiving 2006

Central runs over Harding

CHRIS ELSBERRY celsberry@ctpost.com Connecticut Post Online BRIDGEPORT — Harding had emotion, determination and even a little bit of Mother Nature on its side. But Central had Keith Carlos. Carlos, a senior running back, sloshed his way to three touchdowns and 149 yards rushing to earn the Connecticut Post's John E. Johansen award as the game's Most valuable Player as the Hilltoppers defeated the Presidents 28-0 for the eighth straight time to capture the city championship before a water-logged crowd of 300 Thursday morning at Hedges Stadium. Central (8-2) rolled up 300 yards rushing over a field that was literally covered with up to an inch of standing water when the game began. Cordero Diaz added 104 yards rushing as the Hilltoppers finished the season with their fourth straight win. "It was good, old-fashioned, running football," Central coach Dave Cadelina said. "We gave Keith the ball, told him to find a seam and just go." Carlos scored on runs of 39, 7 and 32 yards for Central, and also contributed a pair of two-point conversion runs. Diaz added a 28-yard TD run for the Hilltoppers. "This is my senior year and coach said for me to leave it all on the field and that's what I did," Carlos said. "The weather wasn't on our side but we just had to come out and play our game. There was no footing, you couldn't cut back. It was power football, straight ahead. It was my first experience playing in the rain and the mud and I enjoyed it." The Presidents had lost eight straight to start the season before rolling past Bassick two weeks ago for their first win. Harding was hoping to ride that wave past Central and stop a losing streak to the Hilltoppers dating back to 1999. It was also looking to get running back Byron Jackson over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. "The Bus (Jackson's nickname) ... that kid's been playing for me since Pop Warner and starting for me here since he was a freshman," Harding coach Trent Allen said. "The kid gives everything he's got on every play. You can't ask for anything more. That's the kind of kid he is ... he plays with his heart." Jackson was the lone bright spot for Harding, rushing for 57 yards on 12 carried to finish the season with 1,023 yards. On Central's opening possession, Carlos found one of those seams behind a big block from 350-pound lineman Jaydell Roy — whom Cadelina used as a blocking back — and he got around the corner and into the end zone on a 39-yard scoring run with 6:11 left in first quarter. Carlos' conversion run made it 8-0 Central. The Presidents nearly scored on their next possession. Quarterback Ramon Villafane found Travis Hickey behind the Hilltopper secondary for a 30-yard completion. Hickey was headed toward the goal line but the wet football slipped out of his hands at the Central 25 and the Hilltoppers recovered. Whatever momentum Harding might have gotten from that play died right there. "We had a touchdown and the kid couldn't hold onto the ball," Allen said. "If he runs that in, maybe we're tied at 8-8 or it's 8-6 and we keep the momentum going." Central took advantage of the play, driving 75 yards to score on Carlos' 7-yard run, and his second two-point conversion run, with 10:30 left in the second quarter. And Diaz's 28-yard burst, thanks to another big block by Roy, on the last play of the half, gave the Hilltoppers a 22-0 lead as the conversion run failed. "We had to run the ball, throwing was impossible, and our big line came through for us, which was what we expect from them," Cadelina said. "We were going to run just straight ahead running plays and they (the line) were the difference." Carlos went 32 yards on Central's first possession of the third quarter to score his third touchdown of the game and make it 28-0 as the conversion failed. This was the 85th game between the two schools since the series started in 1926. Harding leads the all-time series 50-31-4. And there was a lot of pre-game fire as the Central players marched up East Main Street to the field, led by three flag bearers. Upon entering the stadium, the flag bearers ran all the way down to Harding's end of the field and planted their flags in the ground. The Presidents took that as a sign of disrespect and one of the Harding assistant coaches pulled one of the flags out and threw it to the ground. And then when the teams met at midfield before the opening kickoff, there was some pushing and shoving and a lot of trash talking. "That was a mistake by our guys. They didn't know what side of the field we stretched on and they went to the wrong side," Cadelina said. "It got smoothed over. This is a great rivalry and it's nice to see that the fire is still there." Added Allen: "It was nothing. The flag bringing and stamping it in our field, that's showing no respect. It kind of got heated but everything got calmed down and everyone played. There's always going to be talk but everyone controlled it well."  Central 28, Harding 0  CENTRAL8 14 6 0 — 28 HARDING0 0 0 0 — 0  C — Keith Carlos, 39 run (Carlos run) C — Carlos 7 run (Carlos run) C — Cordero Diaz, 28 run (run failed) C — Carlos 32 run (run failed) Records: Central 8-2, Harding 1-9