PUEBLO – There is a celebration unlike anything seen in Colorado each fall at Dutch Clark Stadium. In the country’s oldest football rivalry west of the Mississippi River, Pueblo Central and Pueblo Centennial battle for the right to ring the Bell.
In the 122nd edition of the game, sophomore Amari Brown made sure to send his seniors off with four straight years of claiming the Bell.
He ran for three touchdowns and threw for another to give Central a 30-0 win over Centennial to win the Bell for the fourth straight season.
The Bell rings blue!
It’s the rally cry that echoed through the bleachers of Dutch Clark as the final seconds ticked away. For those unfamiliar with the rivalry and the stakes involved, it means everything in the Home of Heroes.
“For me to be a sophomore, (it’s important) to be able to have all my big seniors be able to leave with the Bell,” Brown said. “They get to walk in Monday morning and see the Bell where it’s supposed to be. It’s a lot of joy.”
Centennial try to squash the Central momentum early. The Wildcats (4-2 overall, 1-0 League 1) went three-and-out in their first series and Centennial quarterback Trinity Fesuluai engineered a solid drive that got the Bulldogs (2-4, 0-1) within striking distance of the end zone. The drive stalled and a field goal attempt fell just short.
And that’s when Central found its groove. Brown ran for his first rushing touchdown to get the Wildcats up 8-0. He added another later in the second quarter.
In the second half, on fourth down, Brown received a pitch while sweeping left, then fired a pass to Kaden Clay to make it a 22-0 game.
“These past two weeks we’ve been practicing that play a lot,” Brown said. “The goal is for everyone to bite on me and leave my boy Kaden Clay wide open and it finally worked.”
The Bulldogs weren’t as lucky. Fesuluai suffered an injury in the first half and never returned to the field. There was no momentum generated on the offensive side of the ball and as the game got closer to the end, the Centennial players could feel the Bell slipping away from them. But they never gave up.
“We’ve been struggling through adversity all year long,” coach Jeff Wilson said. “What needs to happen is we have to get over that hump where have that adversity and do something about it in a positive way, and win a game.”
This is the fourth year in a row that Central has won the Bell. Prior to that, Centennial had a three-game winning streak and had put together nearly a decade of dominance in the rivalry.
“When I first started, we were little brother,” Central coach Kris Cotterman said. “I think they had won 8 out of 10 or something like that. Now, I think we’re big brother. We’re just trying to build a good football program here that plays smash-mouth football.”
It has worked in the rivalry. And for immediate purposes it works in league play as the Wildcats start 1-0. It was a big goal for them this season, to get off to a fast start in league. And it just so happens to come in a way that also allows them additional bragging rights for the next year.
Because once again, the Bell rings blue.
(Dan Mohrmann/ColoradoPreps.com)
