Central Trails Mojo at the Half in Odessa

ODESSA, TX — The Central Bobcats traveled to Odessa on Friday to face the undefeated Permian Panthers and round out the regular season. Both teams' strong defenses kept it low-scoring in the first half, but Odessa made two key takeaways to build a 17-0 halftime lead.

Central's defense showed up on Permian's first drive, shutting the Panthers down outside of the red zone. The Bobcats then blocked the subsequent field goal attempt to keep the score at 0-0 early in the 1st quarter.

The Panthers returned the favor on the Bobcats' first drive. After driving to midfield, Central made its first mistake in the form of an interception. Permian's Malachi Mendoza took the pick to the house and lifted Permian over the Bobcats 7-0 midway through the opening period.

A fumble near midfield later in the 2nd quarter would set up another Panther touchdown. Permian's Josh Curry broke to the outisde to score a 13-yard touchdown after the Bobcats' fumble.

Odessa Permian would add a final field goal before the half. After Central pinned the Panthers on their own 1-yard line, Permian made several plays in a row to get into field goal range.

The successful kick left the score 17-0 at the half.

One exciting accomplishment to note was Central's running back, Zey Johnson. He broke off a long run near the end of the first half that gave him enough yards to break Central's single-season rushing record. 

The 5-foot-11, 220-pound junior needed just 68 yards to break Daven Manning’s record of 1,701 yards set in 2016, and achieved that in the first half.