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LEWISBURG-It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but it sure was effective. Central Columbia rode the legs of quarterback Greyson Shaud to a 20-8 win over Lewisburg on Friday night. The Blue Jays ever-evolving offense continued to make strides. Central (2-3) took what the defense allowed it to have, consistently won battles at the line of scrimmage and turned in a stellar performance on defense, holding Lewisburg to just 84 total yards.
“They have athletes over there,” Central coach E.J. Smith said. “We kind of assumed our spread game would be a little difficult, so it was awesome to be able to run the ball. We’ve been trying for weeks and weeks and weeks, and finally we ground out almost 200 yards rushing, so that was awesome.”
Shaud made a living on designed quarterback runs, whether they be straight up the middle or around right end. As a team, Central rushed 48 times for 177 yards. Although there were few explosive plays, the Blue Jays were able to stay in manageable third and fourth down situations and were able to chew up plenty of clock. Shaud rushed 20 times for 88 yards. His 1-yard quarterback sneak opened the scoring on Central’s first possession. His 2-yard keeper up the middle put the game away with 7:52 left to play.
“They would just line up in the A-gap, and I’d just go opposite side,” Shaud said. “Our players knew what to do, and the belly keep was there all day. We’re working. This is definitely the best all-around running game we’ve had, not even close. Our line just needs to keep working. We won’t go anywhere without them.”
Lewisburg (0-5) took an 8-7 lead following an 82-yard kickoff return by Devin Bodden. The Green Dragons produced only four first downs, rushed for only 52 yards and had trouble mounting any sort of sustained offense. Their longest play of the night was 14 yards, coming in the fourth quarter on a pass from Wade Young to Cam Michaels.
After the game, Lewisburg coach Eric Wicks wasn’t focused on what his team did or didn’t do. Instead, Wicks sounded off at length about the game’s officiating and didn’t hold back. For the game, both teams were whistled for eight penalties and there was only a 3-yard difference in penalty yardage.
“Well, the refs were really bad today,” Wicks said. “I’d say there were a lot of calls that were left out there. There were a lot of things that were happening that I felt were not fair and weren’t right, but they wouldn’t give me an explanation. At the same time, they laughed at me. One of my kids got hit in the face and got knocked down. They laughed at him. When I tried to talk to them after the game -- I don’t understand what’s going on. Is there something we’re doing wrong? The guys walked away from me, every single ref. There was no explanation. There was no talking to. Every game I am dealing with this, and at this point, this is ignorant and disrespectful. I don’t disrespect anyone. I talk to everyone with respect and I use the proper words that need to be done. What happened at this game was a disgrace. That’s how I feel.”
Late in the first half, Central was able to grab the lead for good courtesy of its defense. Gaje Gombert stepped in front of a short pass and returned it 54 yards to the Green Dragons’ 5. On the next play, Gage Chipeleski plunged across the goal line to give his team a 14-8 lead coupled with some much-needed momentum heading into the locker room.
“Gaje is a sophomore, we’ve been waiting for him to show up and he finally had an impact play,” Smith said. “I’m really happy for him. He’s a heck of a player.”
In the second half, Central’s defense dominated. Garrick Feldman recovered a fumble that set up Lewisburg in Blue Jays’ territory, but the Green Dragons turned the ball over on downs after gaining just six yards. Lewisburg was held out of the red zone for the entire night, and never had a drive longer than eight plays. Central took advantage of great field position to put together a short 30-yard drive that resulted in Shaud’s second score.
“I’m so proud of the defense,” Smith said. “We stress getting helmets to the football. I don’t know if there’s one guy that stands out. Gaje made a big splash play, but across the board we were making tackles. Our d-line, our linebackers, our dogs, they were all over the place. To play good defense, you need all 11 guys doing their job.”