Century shuts out Madison to earn first win of 2009

Making just his second varsity start, quarterback Derek Miller ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, leading Century to a 27-0 whitewashing of Madison on Friday night at Hillsboro Stadium.

The win marked the Jaguars' first of the campaign, following their 41-7 opening-week loss at Newberg on Sept. 4.

"Our coach was telling us all week that your team improves the most from week one to week two," said Century senior running back RJ Blosl, who pitched in 94 yards of total offense and one touchdown, to go along with an interception on defense. "After that loss, we knew we had to prove a point. So that's what we did tonight."

Indeed.

Not only did the Jaguars (1-1) rack up 334 total yards themselves, but they also picked up the shutout on defense.

While yielding only 173 yards to the Senators (1-1), Century recovered two fumbles and picked off a pair of Charles Reed-Dustin passes.

Those Jaguars' with turnovers? Blosl and Kevin Newborne (interceptions) and Irving Nguyen and Francisco Toledo (fumble recoveries).

"It took a lot of pressure off us because we knew we didn't have to try to get 40 points tonight," Miller said.

Century took advantage of multiple short fields, especially early on, to open up a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Jaguars stopped Madison twice on fourth down inside Senators territory -- at the same 41-yard line, no less. Both times, Century capitalized with touchdowns.

"I thought Century was really prepared for our plays, and they had a great offensive scheme against our defense," said Senators head coach Ken Duilio, whose club fell 25-12 at home to the Jaguars last year as well. "Really we were kind of thrown back from the beginning on our heels, and we never could recover."

Miller kicked off the scoring with a 12-yard run down the left sideline for his first varsity TD. The play capped a nine-play, 41-yard drive and made it 7-0 with 5:33 to go in the first period.

Three minutes later, Miller connected with Blosl through the air, again from 12 yards out, to make it 14-0.

That's how it went into intermission, as Madison's first-half drives went like this: Turnover on downs, turnovers on downs, turnover on downs, interception, fumble.

"We know we have a lot of team speed," Miller said. "So we wanted to hit the outside, and we hit the outside early."

Miller broke it wide open with a long 54-yard spinning scoring sprint midway through the third quarter, and then Justin Stedman punched one in from three yards out late in the fourth to seal it.

Along the way, Miller finished with a game-best 88 yards on the ground and 102 through the air, after churning out just 53 total in the opener.

Blosl, meanwhile, added 37 yards rushing and 57 receiving. The senior also had not one but two touchdowns called back because of penalties -- a 22-yard reception late in the third and then a 59-yard pick for six early in the fourth.

All told, Century was flagged a whopping 14 times for exactly 100 yards.

"Our youth and inexperience have shown," said Bill Smith, the Jaguars' eighth-year head coach. "We're just making way too many mistakes, and we've got to stop that. But we definitely are better this week than we were last week (against Newberg)."

Century also sacked Reed-Dustin three times, including one each by Toledo and Jared Bridgewater, as well as a half apiece from Nguyen and Nick Saccareccia.

Oh, and the Jaguars, behind a revamped offensive line, went for 232 yards on the ground -- on just 41 carries (5.7-yard average).

Game notes: Century is making this shutout thing an annual tradition. For the fourth straight season -- and for the fifth time overall during that span -- the Jaguars blanked an opponent. "Shutout -- always the best, always feels good," Blosl said. ... The game was another reunion for Smith, who coached at Madison before switching over to Century earlier this decade. "They're good kids," he said of the Senators. "I like the coaches over there." ... Starting Friday, the Jaguars open a tough three-week stretch -- at Lebanon (1-1), at home against Glencoe (2-0) for the Northwest Oregon Conference opener and at Sherwood (2-0). "We've got three tough games in a row here now," Smith said. "This is going to be a real challenge for these young kids."