LA JARA — Plenty of teams are celebrating their homecomings and this week is for the Falcons. The culmination of a week of wackiness was capped by a 55-19 victory over Center (3-2-0) in which the Falcons did most of their damage in the first quarter.
For the second week in a row Centauri’s (4-1-0) back-ups got some extended field time. Against Buena Vista the running clock wasn’t triggered until the third quarter. Friday night the Falcons screamed to the 40-point mark in the first quarter. Both teams entered the contest with one loss. Oddly enough both teams even suffered their blemishes the same weekend. Center fell to Olathe a day before Centauri dropped a cross-class meeting to Pagosa Springs. The biggest disparity between Centauri and Center came in the RPI rankings. Centauri was ranked fourth while Center occupied the 21 spot. That difference foreshadowed what was in store on Friday night.
Center’s opening possession wound up as a turnover. The Falcons quickly capitalized three plays later with a Taj Cornum rush from five yards out to draw first blood. Down 7-0 Center’s second drive covered five yards before they had to punt it away.  After a big return Centauri was looking at a short field again. Eric Maez got the pass in the flat to work finding Mason Claunch for a 24 yard score.
After the Falcons defense forced another punt Zachary Martin exploded for a 54 yard return to the Viking 6 yard line. And the Falcons could do no wrong. One play later Maez would pick up his own fumble to score from two yards out giving Centauri a 21-0 lead.
On the other side of that coin the Vikings couldn’t catch a break. The next three Center drives resulted in two interceptions for touchdowns and a fumble on the kickoff. When the dust settled Centauri held a 41-0 lead to close the first chapter. Things didn’t get much better for the Vikings. A field goal attempt fell short and was taken the distance to push Centauri’s advantage to 48-0.
The Vikings got things going in the third quarter when Armando Salazar scooped a fumble to score and end the shut out. Center junior Devin Porres got in on the act in with a touchdown of his own. One more score from either team would wrap things up at 55-19 in Centauri’s favor.  
Center will open October with a home contest against Ignacio (2-2-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. Centauri will look to make it four in a row when they go on the road to face league rival Monte Vista (2-3-0) the same day and time.