Central Holds Off Fairview Rally to Win Regional Final, 24-21

MILLBROOK, Ind. — Millbrook Central’s defense stuffed Fairview fullback Dontae Reyes a foot short of the goal line on fourth down with 1:47 left, preserving a 24-21 win Friday night and sending the Trailblazers to their first semistate appearance since 2017.

The win came on the road at Fairview’s Memorial Stadium, where Central trailed by four points at halftime after Fairview scored twice in the final six minutes of the second quarter. A defense that had allowed just 9.2 points per game all season gave up two touchdown drives in barely five minutes, and for a while it looked like the Trailblazers’ 11-1 season might end a round earlier than expected.

“We got hit in the mouth in that second quarter and we knew it,” Central head coach Ray Ostrowski said after the game. “I told them at half, you don’t have to be perfect the rest of the way, you just have to be Central football the rest of the way. Line up, do your job, tackle the guy in front of you.”

Central answered immediately out of halftime. Senior quarterback Dmitri Hayes connected with wide receiver Julian Castellano on a 38-yard slant on the opening drive of the third quarter, the first of two touchdown passes between the pair on the night, and the Trailblazers never trailed again, though Fairview made them sweat until the final snap.

A Defense That Found Itself Again

After the shaky second quarter, Central’s defense forced three turnovers in the final 24 minutes: an interception by safety Marcus Delong on Fairview’s opening drive of the third quarter, a strip-sack by defensive end Owen Pruitt midway through the fourth, and the goal-line stand that ended the game. Pruitt finished with 2.5 sacks and was named the game’s defensive player of the week by the Castellan County coaches association.

“That second quarter wasn’t us,” Pruitt said. “Fairview’s a good team, they made some plays, but we knew if we tackled better and played our leverage we were going to be fine. Coach didn’t have to say much at half. We knew.”

Hayes and Castellano Carry the Offense

Hayes finished 17-for-24 for 231 yards and two touchdowns, both to Castellano, who caught seven passes for 104 yards in his final home-run-ball performance of the regular postseason run. Running back Terrell Figueroa added 94 yards on 19 carries, including a crucial 14-yard gain on third-and-8 late in the fourth quarter that let Central run nearly two minutes off the clock before Fairview got the ball back for its final possession.

Fairview’s Final Push

Fairview, the defending regional champion, got the ball back with 2:54 left after Central’s drive stalled, and quarterback Devon Albrecht drove the Falcons 61 yards in seven plays, converting a fourth-and-3 with a scrambling 11-yard run before the drive stalled at the Central 1-yard line. Reyes was stopped twice on third and fourth down by a swarming Central front, with linebacker Casey Whitfield making the final stop to end the threat.

“That’s a gut punch,” Fairview head coach Dale Thornbury said afterward. “We did everything to get back in that game and we were a foot away. That’s a credit to a really well-coached Central team. We’ll be back.”

The Second Quarter That Almost Changed Everything

Central’s defensive letdown in the second quarter traced back to two specific breakdowns, according to Ostrowski’s postgame review: a blown coverage assignment on Fairview’s first touchdown, a 44-yard catch-and-run by wide receiver Isaiah Bramblett that should have been held to a modest gain, and a short-yardage goal-line touchdown on the second score that came after Central’s defensive front lost leverage at the snap. “Both of those are correctable mistakes, not talent problems,” Ostrowski said. “That’s why I wasn’t worried at half, even though the scoreboard said I should be.”

Central’s special teams also had a role in keeping the deficit from growing further before halftime. Kicker Ravi Deshpande’s 38-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the second quarter, after a Fairview personal foul penalty moved the attempt into range, kept the gap at four points heading into the locker room rather than seven, a swing Ostrowski called “the most important three points of the whole night” given how the fourth quarter ultimately played out.

What It Means

The win gives Central its first regional title since 2017 and a 12-1 record heading into next week’s semistate round against Riverton, which enters unbeaten at 13-0 after a 42-10 win in its own regional final Friday. Central and Riverton have not met since 2019, when Riverton won a regular-season matchup 28-17.

Riverton’s offense presents a different kind of test than Fairview did, built around a run-heavy triple-option attack that has averaged 312 rushing yards per game this season, nearly double what Central’s defense has faced from any opponent so far in the postseason. Ostrowski said the coaching staff would spend the bulk of this week’s practice time on option-specific assignments rather than game-planning for a passing attack. “This is a completely different animal than what we just saw,” he said. “Fairview wanted to throw it over our heads. Riverton wants to run it right through our chest for four quarters. We have about six days to get ready for that.”

• Central (12-1) advances to play Riverton (13-0) in the semistate round next Saturday at a site to be determined by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
• Castellano's 104 receiving yards gave him 1,142 for the season, a new single-season school record.
• Central's defense has allowed more than 14 points in a game only twice all season.
• This marks Ostrowski's fourth regional title in eight seasons as Central's head coach.
• Deshpande's 38-yard field goal before halftime was a season-long for the sophomore kicker.

Tickets for the semistate game are expected to go on sale through the school’s athletic office early next week, with Central athletic director Soledad Ibarra saying the school anticipates heavy demand given the matchup with an unbeaten Riverton squad many regional coaches have ranked among the state’s best regardless of class. Ibarra said the school is also arranging additional parking at the Millbrook Public Library lot for fans traveling to whichever site the IHSAA assigns for the semistate round.