Central College exploded for 42 second half points and pulled away for a 45-17 football victory over Augustana Saturday afternoon in Rock Island, Illinois.
The game was tied 3-3 at the half, and the offensive struggles continued into the third quarter. After a shanked Vikings punt set up Central at the Augustana 33, Dutch Coach Jeff McMartin reinserted starting quarterback Riley Gray into the lineup. He engineered a five play drive that led to the first score of the game, a Donny Groezinger 2-yard run.
Central scored on its next four offensive possessions as well, including a Gray one-yard keeper, touchdown passes of 32 and 21 yards from Gray to Sam Markham, and another Groezinger run from 7 yards out.
Coach Jeff McMartin says that after a sluggish first half, the offense really responded in the second.
“This is still a work in progress with our offense but I think our tempo helped a lot in the second half. We were able to continue to do what we do. I feel like we just kind of keep wearing on people and that gives us chances. You have to believe it, so you just have to get to the second half. We had some drops and mistakes that we made in the first half, so it was a matter of cleaning some of that up, and I thought we executed better in the second half too.”
Markham set a school record with 14 catches for 192 yards and the two scores. Gray was 18-26 passing for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and Groezinger rushed 25 times for 98 yards and his two scores.
Defensively, Sam Norgaard led the way with 8 tackles, and as a team, Central sacked Auggie quarterback Zach Fuller four times.
The Dutch did not turn the ball over for the second consecutive game. They finish the non-conference portion of the season at 2-0, and will head to Pella for their home and Iowa Conference opener next Saturday against Buena Vista.

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