Central's Mark Smith on the Win Over Odessa, Previews Frenship

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Central Bobcats (5-4) secured a playoff spot with their district win over Odessa High last Friday. It was a game that Central controlled throughout, but could never manage to put the Bronchos away fully. The 35-32 victory still gave the 'Cats their best record since 2022 and will send Central back to the playoffs.

"You see that with most seasons with every team," Coach Mark Smith said at his press conference on Monday. "There's always one win that gets 'thugged out' right there. That win was a great one."

Central fell behind early when Odessa High scored on its opening drive. The Bobcats responded, took over, and never lost the lead after that. Odessa High kept pace, but solid defense in the 4th quarter and the ability to successfully run the football ultimately put the game away for the Bobcats.

"I'm very happy overall," Smith continued. "We had a four-minute drive with the ball in our hands; it was a great way to finish."

With the win, Central heads into the Bocbats' final regular season matchup on Thursday against the Frenship Tigers at San Angelo Stadium. The Tigers and Bobcats will battle it out for the third seed in the playoffs after the Tigers fell to Permian last Friday.

"Frenship has scored a lot of points," Smith said of the Tigers. "That's been Frenship football. Being able to move the ball and get it into the end zone. They have dynamic players, and that has been the norm at Frenship."

It will be a tough test for the Bobcats, who lost last year's matchup by a touchdown when the Tigers scored with 17 seconds remaining in the ballgame. Luckily for the Bocbats, this matchup is at home. Central has one final opportunity in the regular season to play in front of the fans, and a win would secure a better playoff matchup headed into the postseason.

As a reminder, the kickoff time for the matchup against Frenship has been moved up. The game will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday at San Angelo Stadium.