Why a 28-point win wasn’t good enough for the defending Central Section football champs

The Central High football team gave up a punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter. After that, it was all Grizzlies.

The Bee’s top-ranked team scored 35 unanswered points, highlighted by Jeremiah Hunter’s two touchdown receptions in a 35-7 victory over Edison at Ratcliffe Stadium on Friday night.

Still, the season-opening victory wasn’t good enough for Grizzlies coach Kyle Biggs coming off last season’s first Central Section championship in school history.

“We were sloppy,” Biggs said. “We didn’t execute very well. Played hard and played fast and that’s what I told the kids to do. A lot of things we got to fix, but we’re 1-0 this week and that was our goal. We have a lot of stuff to clean up. “

Hunter agreed with his coach: “There was a lot of mess-up we did.”

Grizzlies quarterback Trent Tompkins, who suffered a fractured hand in June playing summer baseball, started and he said he felt fine throughout the game.

“A little rust,” he said. “All the wide receivers were doing their job and I tried to get it out to them in space and let them do what they do.”

Central will get a tougher test when it faces Grant-Sacramento at Koligian Stadium on Aug. 24. The Pacers, No. 14 in The Sacramento Bee’s preseason rankings, opened the season with a 59-21 victory over Davis.

How The Bee’s preseason Top 10 fared

No. 1 Central d. Edison 35-7

No. 2 Buchanan d. Paso Robles 56-17

No. 3 Bakersfield lost to Servite-Anaheim 17-7

No. 4 Liberty-Bakersfield lost to Mission Viejo 34-9

No. 5 San Joaquin Memorial d. Kingsburg 42-28

No. 6 Clovis West lost to Central Catholic-Modesto 21-0

No. 7 Tulare Union d. Mt. Whitney 36-33

No. 8 Bullard idle

No. 9 Tulare Western d. El Diamante 48-28

No. 10 Clovis vs. Modesto, Saturday

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 11:46 PM.