Centennial Knights Come Back in Second Half to Beat Milton Eagles

Centennial came back from a 14-0 halftime deficit, then blocked a Milton extra-point try in the final minute, to beat the visiting Eagles 21-20 Thursday.

The Knights (2-4) evened their Region 6-AAAAA record to 1-1. Milton fell to 1-4 overall, 0-1 in the region.

The evenly played game saw two touchdowns scored in the final 2:18.

First, Cyril Teal scored on a 25-yard run to give the Knights their first lead of the game at 21-14.

Then, Milton quarterback Colin McElroy completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Jenkins with 35 seconds left to make it 21-20. But Chris Mills' point-after was blocked, securing the Knights' victory.

got off to a quick start taking a 7-0 lead when running back Treyvon Paulk ran 57 yards for a touchdown at the 10:27 mark of the first quarter.

The Eagles put up another touchdown with 5:58 left in the second quarter when McElroy, who could find no open receivers, tucked the ball away and ran 50 yards into the end zone.

went scoreless in the first half, which ended with Milton leading 14-0.

Just as Milton had dominated the first half, Centennial came out strong in the second. Knights quarterback Jimmy Meyer ran for 54 yards on a keeper and then immediately followed it up with a 6-yard dash into the end zone for Centennial's first touchdown with 10:17 left in the third quarter. Meyer rushed for 67 yards and completed 6 of 13 passes for 83 yards.

With 2:08 remaining in the third period, Knight running back Zietrick Smith ran 28 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14. Smith finished with 87 rushing yards on 10 carries.

The Eagles and Knights traded possessions in the fourth quarter until Teal's TD run with 2:18 remaining in the game for a 21-20 Centennial lead.

But the game was far from over. Milton took the kickoff and drove down the field into the Centennial red zone.  Things looked bleak for the Eagles when McElroy was sacked for a loss with only 40 seconds remaining. But on the next play, McElroy connected with Jenkins for the potential game-tying touchdown, bringing the Eagles within 21-20.

After PAT block, the Knights then controlled the kickoff and ran out the clock.

McElroy led Milton with 92 yards rushing and 105 yards passing. Paulk had a game-high 127 yards rushing.