Football Recap: Kainan Manna and Owen Reynoso Secure Win for Centennial

It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Centennial had no problem doing just that on Friday. They managed a 37-32 win over the Queen Creek Bulldogs. 37 seems to be a good number for the Coyotes as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.

Centennial was led to victory by Owen Reynoso and Kainan Manna. Reynoso rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, while Manna rushed for 33 yards and one touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Manna has posted since back in September.

They were just one part of a punishing run game: Centennial was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 292 rushing yards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Queen Creek only rushed for 107 rushing yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Centennial's defensive line and their 8.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Taurean Hall and Aaron Alvarez, who racked up four sacks between them. Alvarez is also on a roll when it comes to total tackles, as he's now made five or more in the last ten games he's played.

When it comes to explaining why Queen Creek lost, don't look at Tait Reynolds. Despite the final result, he threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 70 yards and one touchdown. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Crew Leavitt, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Centennial pushed their record up to 6-7 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 14.0 points per game. As for Queen Creek, their defeat ended a seven-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-3.

Centennial didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next matchup, a 31-21 victory against Mountain View on the 7th. Queen Creek does not have any more games scheduled as of now.