On a night when Peoria Centennial lost its tailback to an injury and its star offensive player having an off game, the defense made plays all over the field.
Peoria Centennial coach Andrew Taylor wondered if the seven takeaways, four by safety Nate Olmos, was a single-game school record in its 27-3 6A football victory against visiting Mesa Mountain View on Friday, Sept. 11.
It was impressive, especially Olmos, who kept finding himself in the right spot.
A strip sack fumble on quarterback Brayden Merwin led to Olmos scooping up the ball and running 21 yards into the end zone to give fifth-ranked Centennial(3-0) a 27-3 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter.
Olmos had two of his three interceptions in the final quarter.
Asked if he ever had a game like this, Olmos said, "Never."
"There's a first time for everything," he added. "I want to give all the thanks to the defense, especially my D-line."
This was an impressive win, considering seventh-ranked Mountain View (2-1) was coming off a win over Phoenix Pinnacle, a team that dominated preseason No. 1 Chandler Basha 40-7 on Sept. 11.
Centennial was coming off a big win at Servite in Anaheim that had it fired up for Mountain View, which got outscored 27-0 after scoring the first points of the game with a field goal.
"We have to look at our record books to see if we forced seven turnovers before," Taylor said. "I'm super excited about how oppotunistic our defense was and how gritty they were.
"It felt much tougher than the score would indicate. Give Mountain View a lot of credit. They went charging right to the very end. Super proud of our D."
Olmos is playmaker in practice, which translated in this game.
"The numbers are still astounding but I'm not surprised, because he's around the ball all the time," Taylor said. "He's a super tough kid, real football smart, a great competitor."
Most of the offense was generated by tailbacks Damonte Drake and Derrion Bartholomew. After Drake ripped off a 57-yard run, Bartholomew finished off the scoring drive with a 16-yard run for a 7-3 lead.
Titus Hill completed a 3-yard pass to Jason Lee for a touchdown and a Centennial 13-3 lead late in the first half.
Drake spent the second half with ice wrapped around his ankle.
Bartholomew picked up the slack with a 21-yard scoring run and a 20-3 lead early in the third quarter.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Centennial's defense makes big statement in win over Mountain View
