The Homecoming crowd at Centerville on Friday, Sept. 19, witnessed a game that was so exciting and action-packed that the teams had to go overtime to determine a winner. Tri High was the opponent in the important Tri-Eastern Conference clash that had a little bit of everything. Turnovers and penalties, a safety, a game-tying 30-yard field goal, and a bad snap on a two-point attempt that ended the game all factored into the outcome. If Centerville head coach Ryan Cole had passed out game balls to players who made big plays, he would have run out. The Bulldogs fought back from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to send the game to an extra period.
The game started slow with the first quarter ending in a scoreless tie. The Bulldogs scored in the second quarter on a 44-yard TD pass from Jace Hollendonner to Maddox Pritchett. The Titans answered with a touchdown and a two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead at halftime.
The second half was a shootout.
Early in the third quarter, the Bulldog offense got pinned on the 2-yard line, which led to a Titan safety. On the ensuing kick, Alex Nobbe and Jaxon Lear came up with a huge play for the Bulldogs. Nobbe made a diving tackle as Lear hit the returner at the same time. This caused a fumble that Lear recovered. Three plays later, Jace Hollendonner scored from 3 yards out on a rushing touchdown.
But the Titans responded with two unanswered touchdowns to build a 24-14 lead with 3:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. To make matters worse, Jace Hollendonner had to leave the game with his team facing a fourth and 10. On the next play, the Bulldogs reached into their bag of tricks. Pritchett threw a backwards pass to Kaydin Perkins, who uncorked a 29-yard completion to a streaking Ethan Vecera for a first down to keep the drive alive. Pritchett capped off the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to make the score 24-21.
The Bulldogs’ defense turned the Titans over downs and took over with a minute left in the game. With Jace Hollendonner sidelined and no timeouts, the Bulldogs went to a no-huddle offense, rotating Pritchett and Perkins at quarterback. The Bulldogs used an eight-play, 42-yard drive to set up a Boston Beatty 30-yard field goal to tie the game. Beatty drilled it and the teams went to overtime.
The Bulldogs had the ball first from the 10-yard line and scored on a 9-yard TD pass from Pritchett to Vecera. The Titans scored in two plays, but instead of kicking the ball to tie the game, they decided to attempt a two-point conversion to win the game.
Vecera and Johnny McGinty shot through the line of scrimmage and tackled the Titan running back in the backfield to secure the 31-30 win for Centerville.
Maddox Pritchett led the Centerville offense with 173 total yards and two touchdowns. Ethan Vecera tallied 17 tackles on defense along with five catches for 58 yards (all in the fourth quarter) and the game-winning touchdown in overtime. Boston Beatty was a game changer. He made four of four PAT kicks and the game tying field goal. Shea Hollendonner added five catches on offense as well as 1.5 sacks on defense. Maclane Henry had a sack and Johnny McGinty had two tackles for loss. Eddie Parker had an interception.
The Bulldogs will host TEC leader Northeastern on Friday, Sept. 26. A Bulldog win would bring the Knights back to a tie for the league lead.
Centerville (4-1, 3-1 TEC) 0 7 7 10 7 31
Tri High (3-2, 2-2 TEC) 0 8 2 14 6 30
A version of this article appeared in the September 24 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.