Some of the older fans at Central High School for Friday night's visit from Red Bank might have recognized it as more parts "Wild, Wild West" movie than a football game.
Red Bank's Lions notched their first win of the 2017 campaign by defeating the Purple Pounders 28-12, but it had a good, bad and ugly feel to it. In other words, it looked a lot like an early-season football game often does.
There were a total of 18 penalties, six turnovers, a blocked punt and a blocked extra point, 20 total plays of lost yardage and an ejected player to comprise plenty of bad and ugly. Nonetheless, Red Bank coach Chad Grabowski managed a brief smile afterward, and he recognized the good.
"Our defense did a really nice job," Grabowski said. "We have to learn to finish a game, but it was definitely better than last week. That is going to be a good team that will compete for its region title. It was a good win for us."
The two teams are in different regions now but are very familiar with one another. Unfortunately for the Pounders the Lions are really familiar with winning this matchup, a streak of seven in a row and 13 of the last 14.
"It's the same story, different day," Central coach Cortney Braswell said. "Negative plays, penalties and turnovers killed us. It dictated field position all night, and we let them off the hook. You just can't give up what we gave up tonight and win football games."
Red Bank (1-1) set the tone for this one with a fumble recovery inside the 10 on Central's opening drive, and Zay Brown capped a 93-yard drive with his 54-yard burst for the early score. Brown finished with 162 rushing yards on 26 carries and added a 14-yard TD run in the third quarter to make it 21-0.
In between his two scores, Red Bank got a 28-yard punt return for a score after a Central penalty pushed the Pounders back inside the 5 and forced a short punt. Central had a chance for momentum just before halftime but turned the ball over on downs inside the 15. The Pounders held Red Bank and appeared to block the punt but were called for roughing the kicker when the official apparently didn't see contact with ball that went sideway.
"That was a big momentum changer. I'm not sure what they saw there," Braswell said.
The Lions extended the lead to 28-0 when sophomore quarterback Madox Wilkey converted a fourth-down pass to keep a drive alive and Calvin Jackson scored on a fourth-down run to cap it. Wilkey was 14-for-20 for 120 yards.
Central fought hard to the end, scoring twice in the final period when Andrew Bingham made a 5-yard TD run and caught an 18-yard pass from Jaheim Jones. Chance Martin forced a fumble and recovered a fumble for Central, and Darius Hicks and Vincent McColley were both stellar at the linebackers.
Red Bank gave up runs of 52 and 59 yards, but thanks to 12 tackles for lost yardage held Central (1-1) to minus-24 rushing yards on its other 20 attempts. Mike Porter had a pair of interceptions and Sam Gilbert recovered a fumble for the Lions. Big Jamel Davis created havoc all night and was responsible for half of the 12 lost-yardage stops.
Contact James Beach at sports@timesfreepress.com.