Central rides wild finish to win over Festus

Central ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak after Friday night's wild 62-56 victory over visiting Festus.

Central improved to 5-4 while Festus fell to 7-2.

Each team scored two touchdowns in the last 1 minute, 23 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Central, which never trailed and four times led by 21 points -- including in the third period -- saw Festus pull into its first two ties of the night in those final 1:23.

Mikey Jones scored on an 89-yard pass from Dennis Vinson with 7.9 seconds left for the winning touchdown.

That came after Festus speedster Travis Spraul's 96-yard kickoff return with 54 seconds left forged a 56-56 deadlock.

Jones and Braion Owens both rushed for more than 200 yards for Central, part of an attack that piled up 637 total yards.

Jones, who entered the night with 900 yards on the season, broke the 1,000-yard mark with ease as he piled up 215 yards on 31 carries. He scored five touchdowns.

Owens rushed for 203 yards on 16 carries despite missing virtually all of the second half with a shoulder injury.

Festus, which trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter, 35-14 at halftime and 42-21 midway through the third period, gained 319 of its 495 yards in the final half.

Festus 0 14 21 21 -- 56

Central 13 22 7 20 -- 62

First Quarter

C -- Mikey Jones 48 run (Matt Chism kick), 10:31

C -- Jones 6 run (kick failed), 1:38

Second Quarter

C -- Al Young 40 pass from Dennis Vinson (Jones run), 10:47

F -- Travis Spraul 61 run (Spraul kick), 9:38

C -- Jones 24 run (Chism kick), 6:33

F -- Nathan Cummings 5 run (Spraul kick), 3:41

C -- Braion Owens 20 rurn (Chism kick), 2:27

Third Quarter

F -- Cummings 1 run (Spraul kick), 10:39

C -- Vinson 1 run (Chism kick), 7:57

F -- Corey Carr 3 run (Spraul kick), 5:19

F -- Jordan Wilkes 15 pass from Andrew Hayden (Spraul kick), 1:23

Fourth Quarter

C -- Jones 11 run (Chism kick), 6:23

F -- Jaden Reddick 1 run (Spraul kick), 4:37

F -- Cummings 2 run (Spraul kick), 1:23

C -- Young 80 pass from Vinson (Chism kick), 1:09

F -- Spraul 96 kickoff return (Spraul kick), 0:54

C -- Jones 89 pass from Vinson (kick blocked), 0:07

F C

First downs 23 25

Rushes-yards 55-447 55-426

Passing yards 48 211

Passes 3-6-1 4-6-0

Punts 2-29 2-45.5

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-1

Penalties-Yards 5-35 6-43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Festus, Carr 21-162, Cummings 13-120, Spraul 6-77, Reddick 9-54, Wilkes 5-44, Hayden 1-minus 10. Central, Jones 31-215, Owens 16-203, Chase Eubank 2-13, Vinson 3-6, Young 2-minus 11, Kway-chon Chisom 1-0.

PASSING -- Festus, Hayden 3-6-1-48. Central, Vinson 4-6-0-211.

RECEIVING -- Festus, Spraul 2-33, Wilkes 1-15. Central, Young 3-122, Jones 1-89.