MOUNDS — The good news for the Central Tigers in their battle with the Liberty Tigers on Friday night was Central prevailed 48-31.
Unfortunately, the win for Central did not get them a playoff berth as due to Tulsa Regent Prep’s 48-46 overtime win over Wewoka on Friday night, it caused a three-way tie for fourth place in District AII-3 with Central, Liberty and Regent Prep.
Both Central and Regent Prep ended with minus-7 district points, while Liberty ended with a minus-29. However, since Regent Prep defeated Central 28-18 on Oct. 3, it gave the tiebreaker to the Rams, who grabbed the final playoff spot from the district.
Central finished the season at 6-4 overall and 3-4 in district play.
“You always want to start the season with a win and end the season with a win,” Central coach Jeremy Thompson said. “We’re disappointed that we’re not playing this week (in Class A, Division II playoff opener). The kids knew what they had to do to give ourselves a chance (to make the playoffs), and they did it. I’m proud of the boys.”
After falling behind Liberty (5-5, 3-4) by the score of 3-0 in the first quarter, Central took a 6-3 lead on Kiefer Bailey’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Randolph.
After Liberty regained the lead at 10-6, Bailey hooked up with Randolph once more, this time on a 65-yard TD pass for a 14-10 lead. However, Liberty took a 17-14 lead into the second quarter.
Central took the lead for good thanks to a pair of touchdown runs by Ryker Miller of 13 and 3 yards as Central took a 30-17 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
After Liberty cut the Central lead to 30-24 after three quarters, Bailey used his feet to produce Central’s next two touchdowns as he scored on runs of 13 and 11 yards to give Central a 42-24 lead.
After Liberty cut its deficit to 42-31, Miller completed the hat trick of TD runs as he scored on a 13-yard run.
For the game, Bailey threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns and had 95 yards rushing and two more TDs. Miller rushed for 249 yards and three touchdowns, while Randolph caught three passes for 95 yards and two TDs.
Bailey and Miller connected twice on twopoint conversions in the first half, while Bailey ran in the third twopoint conversion after Miller’s second secondquarter TD run.
“Ending the season with a win to enter the off-season on a positive note is a big deal,” Thompson said.
