Springfield scores on first play of OT to beat Centerville

The 20-yard score stood up when Springfield safety Delian Bradley intercepted a fourth-down pass from Centerville’s Chase Harrison in the end zone to end the game. The Wildcats improved to 2-0 with a 31-24 victory at Centerville. Thigpen picked a good time for his first career touchdown.

“He made a play,” Springfield coach Maurice Douglass said. “He didn’t do some things early in the game, but when the opportunity came again, he stepped up. He got challenged at halftime by the offensive coordinator to do what he’s supposed to do.”

It was the third touchdown pass of the game for Smoot, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 262 yards. Smoot also threw three touchdown passes in the season-opening 21-14 victory against Wayne.

Springfield overcame five turnovers, including two in the fourth quarter, to beat the Elks for the third straight season. Springfield won 41-28 last season and 49-6 in 2018.

“This is a big win, a hard-fought win,” Smoot said.

Logan Richardson led Springfield’s ground game with 92 yards on 13 carries. He also caught a 21-yard touchdown pass to give Springfield a 21-17 lead in the third quarter.

Ben Van Noord led Springfield receivers with six catches for 76 yards. Anthony Brown caught five passes for 69 yards, including a touchdown.

Despite some standout individual performances, Douglass was not happy with the overall play of the team.

“We got the W; that’s all that matters,” Douglass said. “We’ve got the opportunity to get better next week. We were able to overcome some adversity, and the guys showed some resilience at the end. They just kept fighting. Like I told them, we played our worst game — the worst game in the last two years — but we still won.”

Centerville (1-1) had won eight of 10 in the series against Springfield before losing the last three. The Elks were outgained 392-240 in total yards in this game but stayed in the game by intercepting Smoot twice and recovering three fumbles.

Bryant Callahan led the Centerville rushing attack with 79 yards on 19 carries. His 15-yard touchdown run tied the game at 14-14 early in the second quarter.

Harrison completed 14 of 28 passes for 154 yards. He opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Smith, who led the Elks with nine receptions for 108 yards.

Harrison’s 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter tied the game at 24-24 and proved to be the last score before overtime.

After that score, Centerville was unable to get anything going on offense or take advantage of Springfield’s turnovers.

“We didn’t play very good defense,” Centerville coach Brent Ullery said. “We didn’t play very good offense. We didn’t play good football tonight.”