Central Bobcats' Defense Leads Big Win Over Belton

SAN ANGELO, TX — Led by a stifling defensive effort, the Central Bobcats rolled to a 33-8 win over Belton on Friday at San Angelo Stadium.

Central's defense smothered the Tigers, holding them to 140 yards of offense. The Bobcats forced two turnovers and six punts, and they ended another drive with a fourth-down stop.

After struggling in a pair of high-scoring losses to start the year, the Bobcats' defense has seen a staggering improvement the last two weeks.

"Those guys have gotten better every week from a rough start early in the season," Central head coach Mark Smith said. "That's what we've asked them to do, just improve, and they did it again tonight. They took another step forward."

Gabriel Rodriguez's interception on the second play from scrimmage set up the Bobcats at the 2-yard line, and they punched it in two plays later on a 4-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Edwards for a quick 7-0 lead.

Central scored on five of its six drives in the first half for a 26-0 lead at halftime.

The Bobcats put the game away in the third quarter with a 20-play, 90-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock.

Central led 33-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

"I feel like we did way better than we have the whole year. We locked in and had good eyes on everything," said Central senior defensive back Zayden Norton, who had an interception. "I feel like we're just talking way better than we were."

Central has now won back-to-back games to improve to 2-2 on the season. The Bobcats snapped a 10-game losing streak last week with a 31-27 win over Abilene Cooper.

"I'm so proud of the guys," Smith said. "Their resiliency from winning last week and not always being in that position and knowing how to respond, we had a great week of practice and it didn't surprise me the result tonight.

"We've got a good football team. This is a team capable of doing a lot of good things right now. I'm really proud of them and very grateful for the win."