Centerville leads the series 6-5. The two teams have met every season since 2010.
"Coming here 15 years ago, I can remember the first time someone said ‘Are we really playing Centerville?’ Springboro head coach Ryan Wilhite said. “That was as Springboro was growing. Now we want to compete against Centerville annually. Our players circle this game. That’s the first team they focus on.”
Said Case: “Centerville has had that tradition and notoriety of being the top dogs around here. I think that title belongs to Springboro now.”
South suburban rights reside in Warren County this year thanks in part to a third-quarter avalanche.
Ahead 14-8 at halftime, Springboro scored two touchdowns on its first eight plays after the break. Case’s 1-yard jaunt started the scoring. A 56-yard pass play from Mikey Appel to Conner Heyser capped it.
Sam Feldman’s touchdown toss to Case gave the Panthers a 35-8 lead with 8:10 left.
“Offensively at halftime we felt we could keep their offense off the field by possessing the football,” Wilhite said. “Then our guys just stared making plays.”
“Coach had confidence in us and the plan at half and we knew with the score where it was (14-8) we were right were we wanted to be,” Case said. “We buried them in second half.”
Centerville rallied a tad too late.
The Elks scored with a 1:58 left on a 40-yard pass from Chase Harrison to Will Jackson-Linkhart. Following a successful onside kick, Harrison ran in from 1-yard out with 1:22 remaining to cut the deficit to 13 points. The Elks could not convert another successful onside kick.
Harrison completed 31-of-48 attempts for 349 yards. He also scored the Elks first touchdown on a 1-yard run.
Centerville junior Cam Smith caught five passes for 125 yards. Jackson-Linkhart had eight catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Springboro running back Moise Armbruster became the GWOC’s leading rusher (through four weeks) with 134 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Despite playing just three games, the senior has 426 yards rushing and seven touchdowns on 43carries.
For the second game in a row, Springboro played two quarterbacks. Appel. a senior, was 13-of-18 for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while Feldman, a junior, was 4-for-5 for 47 yards and a touchdown.
“We have two great quarterbacks on our roster,” Wilhite said. “Those guys both deserve to play. The nice thing about it is they don’t change our offense. They’re seamless. Which is rare. No matter who is out there – we’re going to go.”
Springboro travels to Springfield next week for a crucial GWOC meeting. Centerville is at winless Beavercreek.
“For us it was just about the chance to compete,” Wilhite said. "We found out about the reality that we’re living last week.
“You try to do thingd right and then suddenly you find out you’re not playing. That was really hard. Today was a great escape.”
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