Late score lifts Genoa over Burlington Central

Genoa-Kingston had not given up a point all season.

Tre Llanes wasn't going to be stopped. The Burlington Central running back scored the first points of the season on G-K and added a go-ahead 88-yard scoring run to help overcome a 22-12 fourth-quarter deficit and go up 24-22 The lead did not hold though as the Cogs scored with 3 minutes left to take a 28-24 victory from Central.

G K quarterback Craig Billington scrambled past the entire Rockets defense sprinting from sideline to sideline to give the Cogs the 28-24 lead with 3 minutes to play on a 28-yard run, which looked more like a 50-yard play.

"We all gave up on that play," said Llanes, who finished with 163 yards on 18 carries. "We kept going at it, but he wanted it more."

Although Central (0-3) did score, it failed to convert a fourth-and-17 from the Cogs' 37 yard line when G-K cornerback Gabe Williams-Torres picked off Ryan Ritchie with 14 seconds left.

Central, which started its final drive on its own 20, had moved the ball consistently until it was faced with a second-and-9 on the G-K 29 with 27 seconds remaining.

Ritchie, who rushed for a pair of scores earlier in the game, was sacked by Tobias Canterbury and Dominick Calendo for an 8-yard loss.

Ritchie could not connect with Zach Ranney on the following play.

"These guys will fight," Central coach Aaron Wichman said. "They are competitors. To their credit, they're going to play. We needed to score a few more points in the first half."

Llanes scored on runs of 13 and 88 yards and Ritchie added scoring runs of 28 and 3 yards in the second half. But all four times, the Rockets failed to convert on the extra point. Central had 2 extra points blocked and Llanes failed to get in on a running attempt.

G-K (3-0) did not fair much better in the special teams area. Chris Camargo made the point after on Matt Volkening's 6-yard scoring pass to Kevin Simonson to put the Cogs up 7-0 with 1:33 left in the first half and then made it a 10-6 game with a 29-yard field goal 10 seconds before halftime.

But G-K failed on a run attempt twice and missed a pass on its next 3 scores.

"We have to do a better job of executing," Wichman said. "We talked that our special teams unit has come a long way. (But) it hurt to leave points on the board like that."