For the first quarter and a half, Buchanan had Central right where it wanted.
However, you can only keep a great offense down for so long, and when the floodgates opened, the Bears were swimming upstream the rest of the way.
In a colossal matchup to open up league, state No. 17-ranked Buchanan allowed 28 points to No. 10 Central in the final 5:32 of the first half, all four touchdowns by way of quarterback Trent Tompkins, as the Grizzlies’ cemented themselves as the dominant team in the Central Section with a 42-24 win at a packed Deran Koligian Stadium.
“It shows you how explosive that team is,” Buchanan coach Matt Giordano said. “You can’t shoot yourself in the foot that many times. That’s the mark of a good team, you make a mistake and they capitalize on that.”
Buchanan’s solid defense held the vaunted Central offense, who came in at 5-0 and averaging 50.2 points per game, in check until Tompkins found Jeremiah Hunter on a 9-yard fade in the front left of the end zone for a 7-3 lead with 6:28 left in the half.
The Bears (4-2) would respond with a 34-yard touchdown pass from sophomore D.J. Stevenson to Jalen Cropper on the next possession.
However, on Central’s first play on the next drive Tompkins threw a 78-yard touchdown strike to Hunter, who finished with five catches for 120 yards, to retake the lead at 14-10.
Then, a big mistake turned the tide of the game in favor of Central when Buchanan failed to field a short kickoff and was recovered by the Grizzlies at the 32-yard line, leading to a 13-yard screen pass from Tompkins to Quali Conley with 4:01 left and a 21-10 lead.
“We know we are going to hit a spurt,” Central coach Kyle Biggs said. “We just have to figure out what the defense is doing.”
The furious pace continued with a 4-yard touchdown run by Buchanan’s Kendall Milton, but, with only 1:48 on the clock Tompkins hit Xavier Worthy with a 50-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left and a 28-17 lead heading into half.
Tompkins, who came in leading the nation in total yards with 2,119 and a 28-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio, finished with 310 yards and five touchdowns on 15 of 20 passing.
“He’s a terrific player and young man, I’m happy of the attention he’s getting – he deserves it.,” Giordano said. “When you play against terrific players you have to pay attention to details and if you don’t you pay the price.”
Actually, Buchanan did put pressure on Tompkins, sacking him eight times, but his ability to elude defenders and extend plays proved too tough to defend.
Central would hold Buchanan to a single touchdown in the second half, a 32-yard touchdown pass from Stevenson, who passed for 274 yards in the game, to Brandon Hernandez late in the fourth quarter.
“We did some things good but a team like this you have to play four quarters of good football, and that’s tough,” added Giordano.