Tigers overcome mistakes to top Central 36-29 | Sports

Grand Junction made several mistakes and had some unfortunate plays, but still found a way to win.

The Tigers’ football team overcame costly penalties, turnovers and misjudged punt returns to defeat crosstown rival Central 36-29 on Friday night at Stocker Stadium.

“We fought a lot of battles tonight, but that’s OK,” Grand Junction coach Landon McKee. “It shows the resilience of our team, the kids and our coaching staff. We stayed resilient and stayed within ourselves. I’m proud of the whole program.”

The mistakes and misfortune started early with a 15-yard roughing of the quarterback penalty that gave Central a first down that led to a touchdown. The Tigers’ punt returners didn’t field a punt that pinned them inside the 1-yard line leading to a safety and they also had a fumble deep in Central territory in the first half — but Grand Junction still led 15-9 at halftime.

Grand Junction (2-0) had a personal foul penalty on Central’s opening drive of the second half that eventually led to a touchdown for the Warriors, but the Tigers responded with a 64-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Neese to Jed Kleager for a 21-15 lead.

The Warriors (0-2) tied the score with a Noah Rosales 46-yard touchdown pass to Asher Carter and took a 29-21 lead with 15 seconds left in the third quarter when Rosales scored on a 6-yard run. Rosales completed a pass to Carter for a two-point conversion.

The Tigers came back with a Elias Morgan 41-yard touchdown run on their next possession and converted their second two-point conversion of the night to tie the game for a fourth time early in the fourth quarter.

Central had the ball near midfield and appeared poised to answer, but Grand Junction safety Colton Music picked off Rosales and returned the interception deep into Central territory.

“I was just reading the quarterback’s eyes,” Music said. “I saw him look at the single receiver side. I swooped right in and got it.”

A personal foul penalty at the end of the play pushed Grand Junction back to the Central 48, but it didn’t stop the Tigers’ momentum.

“It’s momentum that carries it,” Music said. “We had a few big plays and that made the difference.”

On the Tigers’ first play from scrimmage after the interception, slotback Paxton Webber took a backward pitch and hit Kleager for a 48-yard touchdown — Kleager’s second score of the night.

“Every team always has a couple of those up their sleeves somewhere,” McKee said. “We felt like let’s give it a shot and see if it goes. First of all, we blocked great. Paxton sold it the right way and Jed Kleager sold the block and got out behind it and did well on the receiving end of it.”

Webber said it’s a play they practice five times every day before practice truly starts. Clearly, it paid off.

“I don’t think our coach really trusted it a lot, but we executed it well,” Webber said. “We caught them off guard.”

Central had another opportunity, but Grand Junction’s defense shut the Warriors down, persevering with the victory.

The Tigers took the opening drive 56 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Elias Morgan scored on a 2-yard run, but Matthias Martinez-Santana had a bulk of the yards on the drive with a 24-yard run putting the Tigers in scoring territory.

Central put together a 10-play, 56-yard drive of its own leading to a Rosales 2-yard TD run. The Warriors’ drive was aided by a Grand Junction roughing the passer penalty on fourth down to keep the Warriors’ drive alive.

Central had to punt on its next possession, but Asher Carter’s punt rolled all the way to the 1-yard line. On the next play, the Warriors tackled Martinez-Santana in the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 lead early in the second quarter.

The Warriors, though, fumbled on their next possession with Trevon Young recovering the ball. The Tigers, though, turned the ball back over with a fumble, recovered by Rylie Hoyt.

Junction’s A.J. Schlachter returned a short punt 17 yards into Central territory with less than five minutes left in the second quarter. Martinez-Santana scored on a 25-yard run with 3:32 left for a 15-9 lead at halftime.

“We need to be a more disciplined team,” McKee said. “It’s part of the learning curve. We are a young team. They are excited. It’s part of what we’ve got to get better at. Credit to Central. They played hard. They are going to win some football games. Coach Plock is doing a great job over there. Happy to win it, but credit to Central, they played hard tonight.”