San Angelo Central Unable to Stop Midland High's Rushing Attack

MIDLAND — The San Angelo Central football team didn’t want to get in a track meet with Midland High on Friday, but that’s exactly what happened.

And it was off to the races for star running back Elijah McCoy.

The UTEP commit had 354 rushing yards and seven touchdowns to lead Midland High to a 56-47 win over Central at Astound Broadband Stadium.

"We couldn't stop them, and that's the bottom line," Central head coach Mark Smith said. "We got pushed around a little bit. They have a difficult scheme to be able to defend, and we just didn't make enough stops. Offensively, we got going and scored points, but it was just a challenge stopping them tonight."

McCoy had nearly 1,300 rushing yards entering the game, and he showed why he's one of the top running backs in the state.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior carried the ball 34 times to display his durability. He was tough to bring down, and he was even tougher to catch with his breakaway speed that was showcased on an 84-yard TD run.

Central pulled within 21-17 of Midland High with 1:28 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs scored with 10 seconds remaining on a 14-yard TD run by McCoy to take a 28-17 lead into halftime.

Midland High then scored on its opening possession of the third quarter, and the Bobcats were playing catch up the rest of the night.

"We'll go back and take a look at this and figure out exactly the right things we need to be doing," Smith said. "We just didn't tackle well tonight, I know that. You've got guys in the open field, and we don't tackle them and bring them down. That showed up over and over again. They leaned on us and got to us a little bit.

"But we've just got to look at this, learn from this, grow from this and go on and try to figure out a plan next week to go win." 

Midland High improved to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in District 2-6A, while Central fell to 3-5 and 0-3.

The Bobcats face a must-win game at home next week against Odessa High to keep their playoff hopes alive. Midland High will play crosstown rival Midland Legacy next week.

Central quarterback Christian English threw for 200 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-25 passing, and he rushed for 82 yards and two TDs on 10 carries.

Central wideout Jimmy Edwards had seven catches for 118 yards, highlighted by a spectacular one-handed over-the-shoulder catch on a 46-yard TD.

Central's Gavin Johnson had an 80-yard kickoff return for a TD.

The game looked like it was going to be a blowout when Midland High went ahead 42-17 with 10:51 remaining, but the Bobcats refused to go away quietly as Central's offense came to life with 30 points in the fourth quarter.

There was a scary moment near the end of the first half when the game was stopped for an ambulance to take a Central player from the sideline on a stretcher.

Smith said after the game it was a precautionary move and the player was OK.

Midland High 56, San Angelo Central 47

Central   10   7   0   30 — 47

Midland   14   14   7   21 — 56

First Quarter

M — Stroman Bridges 5 run (Keith Ramos kick), 6:29

C — Evan Vaughn 22 FG, 2:24

M — Elijah McCoy 1 run (Ramos kick), :09

C — Gavin Johnson 80 kickoff return (Vaughn kick), :00

Second Quarter

M — McCoy 84 run (Ramos kick), 10:26

C — Christian English 1 run (Vaughn kick), 1:28

M — McCoy 14 run (Ramos kick), :10

Third Quarter

M — McCoy 4 run (Ramos kick), 6:21

Fourth Quarter

M — McCoy 7 run (Ramos kick), 10:51

C — John Paul Nombrano 11 run (run failed), 9:27

M — McCoy 19 run (Ramos kick), 8:02

C — Elijah Allen 5 run (Cameron Mayfield pass from English), 6:47

M — McCoy 5 run (Ramos kick), 2:42

C — Jimmy Edwards 46 pass from English (Jaddin Mack pass from English), 2:04

C — English 2 run (Johnson pass from Edwards), :21