Arbor View beats Centennial, grabs league title

Arbor View sophomore Deago Stubbs doesn't have the build of a workhorse running back.

But that didn't stop the Aggies from getting on his back in the second half Thursday night.

Stubbs had 17 carries for 77 yards in the second half and finished with 139 yards to lead third-ranked Arbor View to a 17-14 win over visiting Centennial to secure the Northwest League title.

"We rode a sophomore in the second half," Arbor View coach Dan Barnson said. "Deago Stubbs, we got behind him, and he did very, very well."

Fourth-ranked Centennial (7-2, 3-1 Northwest) took advantage of an Arbor View miscue on the second-half kickoff. The ball went off the hands of Gage Motl, and Dexter Kie recovered at the Aggies' 32-yard line.

Jamaal Evans scored on a 1-yard bootleg seven plays later, diving across the goal line, to give the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead with 8:38 to go in the third quarter.

That's when Barnson turned to Stubbs, giving the 6-foot-1-inch, 155-pound back the ball time after time on the ensuing drive.

Stubbs carried the ball 11 times on the 15-play drive, including seven consecutive plays. He finished with 62 yards on the drive, which ended on Hayden Bollinger's 1-yard quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal that made the score 17-14. The Aggies burned 7 minutes and 20 seconds on the scoring drive.

"We had a 15-play drive, and he ran the same play eight times out of the 15 plays and got positive yards on every single one," Barnson said.

From there, it was up to the Arbor View defense, and the Aggies (8-1, 4-0) were up to the task all night long.

Arbor View allowed just 18 yards on Centennial's next drive, then recovered a fumble by Rhamondre Stevenson on the ensuing drive.

Stevenson, who hadn't played since Sept. 18 because of a foot injury, never got in a groove Thursday. He finished with 8 yards on eight carries and fumbled three times. Arbor View recovered all three.

"I don't know if they ever really got a go-to guy," Barnson said. "They didn't really have somebody that got going tonight. We did. And when we got that young kid going, we started running behind him, and it was pretty fun."

Centennial had one final chance when it got the ball back at its 13 with 2:04 to play.

Evans had a 35-yard completion to Savon Scarver on a post route, then hit Tyler Hennis for a 25-yard gain that moved the ball to the Arbor View 28.

A screen pass to Kayvon Miller lost a yard, and Evans spiked the ball to make it third-and-11 from the 29.

The Bulldogs took a shot to the end zone, but Scarver was unable to make a leaping catch, setting up fourth down.

Evans found Scarver on the left sideline, but he bobbled the ball before securing it and was forced out of bounds 2 yards short of the first-down marker. The Aggies took over with 42.6 seconds to play and ran out the clock.

"It was close," Arbor View defensive end Gage Motl said. "I thought he didn't make the catch. But you know what? He did. They came up short, and we won."

The Aggies held Centennial to 55 rushing yards and 189 yards of offense.

"From the start we shut them down," Motl said. "We won the line of scrimmage. Our defensive line is our asset."

It was the second consecutive league title for the Aggies, who improved to 50-6 over the past six seasons.

"The feeling is outrageous. It's crazy," Motl said. "It could have went either way. Kudos to those guys, they played tough. But you know what? We were the better team, the better program."

Evans completed 9 of 15 passes for 134 yards and added two rushing TDs for Centennial, which earned a home playoff berth as the league's No. 2 seed for the Sunset Region playoffs.

Morris Jackson added 67 rushing yards for Arbor View, including a 36-yard TD run on the team's first play from scrimmage.

"This is a lot more fun than winning by 50 points, it really is," Barnson said. "Good stuff."

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at 702-380-4587 or dseiters@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.