It came down to one second on Friday.

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Centralia had time for one more play on Mexico’s seven-yard line while trailing the Bulldogs 20-16 on Friday at Hawthorne Heights, but their final pass was batted down by Charlie Fisher in the end zone. Mexico defeated the Panthers after losing each of the past two season openers, capitalizing on a lost fumble by Centralia in the fourth quarter.

The quarterback Fisher returned this season after injuries kept him out for a lengthy past of last season. He ran for some key first downs but made sure Centralia stayed down on defense by appearing in front of Rex Bryson’s pass.

“After the timeout, we came out expecting pass,” Fisher said. “We really focused on not letting anything behind us. We knew it was the last play so we dug deep. I saw them dropping back and saw the receiver going out so I went out there, saw the ball and made a play on it.”

Head coach Steve Haag said Friday’s Week 1 matchup was “a game with swings in emotion” since Centralia led 8-0 in the first quarter but then Mexico took a 14-8 lead at halftime following the Panthers’ failed fourth down attempt. Centralia took a 16-14 lead but then Mexico was able to run ahead before the waning seconds.

Centralia took its time on the final drive that threatened Mexico’s victory as it was prolonged past 10 plays and involved a first-down pass for more than 30 yards to Logan Rosenfelder – his second such catch in the game. Haag said it most importantly involved Centralia using its power running to the right side.

“I was super nervous on that past play,” Haag said. “I thought they were going to run some split flow against us, and I thought they were going to run back to the wing. I was screaming at our back side, saying ‘You stay home because something’s coming.’ It didn’t. They just kept running power.”

Haag said Centralia was playing hard and disciplined as always and were strong in the backfield, led by Bryson’s 95 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries and Jesse Caballero’s 72 yards on eight carries. The Panthers seemed to be even faster than Haag initially thought as well.

This was especially evident early in the game as Centralia, instead of using a traditional quarterback formation, used creative ways to set up runs by multiple players to multiple spots. Mexico couldn’t stop Centralia’s first drive as it ate up 76 yards and seven minutes off the clock.

“We scouted them in the summer, and we saw that they run a three-surface side with three lineman, and back side, they had a tight end and a guard,” Haag said. “Then they started running with a tight end on the right so they had four surface and we weren’t adjusting well to it. I’m screaming and yelling that we got to shift over, and finally, we did that.”

In the first half, DeMint rattled off some long first-down runs and finished with 69 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Hunter Cuno had 59 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, Peyton Hoover had 56 yards on 16 carries and Fisher ran for 55 yards on 10 carries. Korbyn Dorsey ran for the winning touchdown.

Fisher came through later in the game with long runs on the outside to convert on first down. Some of them occurred on fourth down, including a 4th-and-10 conversion in the red zone that eventually led to a Cuno touchdown to make it 14-8 Mexico at halftime.

“I have a lot of trust in my teammates,” Fisher said. “I know they’re out there blocking for me so then I’m really confident in running that ball.”

Fisher said there is a lot of trust in his coaches as well. Haag said it became easy to trust in his kids running the ball after establishing a strong foundation.

“From an offensive standpoint, we run the line of scrimmage,” Haag said. “We forced them out of a 3-4. They had to go to a four-man front because we were doing a lot outside veer. Then we went to our power game out of the T. It’s just a chess move. We think this is what they’re going to do, and we’re going to do this. It worked most of the night.”

Haag said a back-and-forth game like Friday’s could of easily went Centralia’s way and had a chance for that outcome after a sequence in the fourth quarter. Mexico’s drive deep into Centralia territory turned into a long-yardage situation on third down thanks to penalties. On the first play of Centralia’s drive following a punt, the Bulldogs ripped the football out and recovered with a short field at the 21-yard line.

Mexico already took two big punches to the gut on a Centralia scoring drive in the third quarter when Caballero ran 44 yards down the sideline, and Bryson ran for a 17-yard touchdown after that on just a two-play drive. Now with a 16-14 deficit and losing out on potential points on a fourth-quarter drive, the Bulldogs took advantage of the lone turnover of the game.

“It looked like their back paused a bit, we came in from the back side and we were able to get that ball out,” Haag said. “Our guys are disappointed because we didn’t score a touchdown then all of a sudden, we knock the ball out and get a recovery.”

Mexico plays at Southern Boone (1-0), who defeated Odessa 32-25 in Week 1, at 7 p.m. on Friday.