St. Thomas More Knights turned two blocked punts and a fumble recovery into three scores Friday and, subsequently, turned out the lights on the Centennial Centaurs' brilliant season.
Clutch winners in three of their previous four games, the unheralded Cents squandered an 11-point lead and dropped a 35-32 gut-puncher to the No. 1-ranked St. Thomas More Knights in a B.C. AAA senior high school football quarter-final playoff game at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium.
"I'm extremely proud of our players," said Cents head coach Ryk Piche, whose team played the entire season without injured star tailback Jason Buren. "The way this team turned things around and came together the last four games... I've never been part of that.
"It was something special."
The future looks extremely bright for Cents, who are returning 10 starters next season, Piche pointed out, including Grade 11 standouts Nathan Lund and Justin Buren.
"We truly found a new identity in Centennial football," Piche said.
