Members of the Centennial High School football team, from left, Joseph Ahern, Vladimir Plotnikov and Luis Rivas pose for a portrait at the Las Vegas Sun’s high school football media day August 2, 2017, at the South Point.
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 | 11:50 p.m.
Related content
Centennial coaches kept preaching hard work to their players and promising it would pay off over the last few weeks.
It paid off Thursday night in the Bulldogs’ senior night. Centennial put all the frustration from a previously winless season into a resounding 52-30 victory over Palo Verde.
“We kept telling them, ‘It’s going to happen, it’s going to happen,’” Centennial coach Dustin Forshee said. “We kept killing ourselves with mistakes, but tonight it finally clicked. It was nice to get a win for the seniors.”
And largely because of the seniors. Senior quarterback Vlad Plotnikov had his finest game in the finale, throwing for 317 yards and two touchdowns in addition to rushing for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Centennial was potent on the ground all night behind an experienced offensive line, but youth to offer excitement for the future also emerged. Sophomore running back Jordan Smith scored three touchdowns and racked up 227 yards.
“He’s matured a lot the last few weeks and became our No. 1 guy,” Forshee said. “It was the culmination of all that.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
