By Matt Lechuga
For The Signal
Over a year after their last win, the Centurions finally got to celebrate again thanks to a wild come-from-behind 38-34 victory over host Buena to kick off the year.
Down three heading into the fourth quarter, Saugus traded scores with the Bulldogs until recovering an onside kick, scoring and icing the game with an interception, earning its first victory since beating Golden Valley in October 2022.
“It’s part of our mantra, it’s part of what we preach to our kids: As long as there is air in your lungs and time on the clock, you’re never out of the fight,” said Saugus head coach Jason Bornn. “We did a nice job in the first half and came out in the second half and didn’t execute like we wanted. Credit to our kids; they bought into what we were preaching and we were fortunate to get the win.”
After taking a 17-6 lead into halftime, Saugus gave up 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. The first touchdown came on a fake field goal pass by holder Tyler Hoff to James Blanks but a failed 2-point conversion kept the score 17-12. Blanks then scored on a 1-yard rush to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game and Hoff ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 20-17.
Buena then took advantage of a quick Saugus three-and-out and struck on an 86-yard touchdown run by quarterback Blake Eberhard to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 27-17.
The Centurions responded by marching down the field on their next drive and scoring on a 1-yard rush by Kehanie Ortega, which was immediately nullified by a 98-yard kick return by Hoff to keep Buena ahead by 10, 34-24.
Saugus answered one big play with their own when, on their next drive, quarterback Jake Nuttall hit Landon Lattimore for an 82-yard touchdown to bring the Centurions within a field goal. Saugus then recovered an onside kick, and Nuttall hit Matt Long for a 47-yard touchdown on a screen to make the final score 38-34.
Buena was driving to try to take the lead with the clock winding down in the fourth quarter but Eberhard took a big loss on a run and on the next play threw an interception to Saugus defensive back Gage Sheklow to seal the game.
Even with the win, Bornn is looking at areas the team can improve on.
“The mental errors, low snaps, missed tackles, missed assignments, turnovers. Those are all things that are within our control. We’ll learn and grow from it and get better,” he said.
Saugus will look to build off of this win next week when they host Oak Park on Friday.
