WINCHESTER – Kiante Enis bounced off a Centerville defender Friday night, propelling the Winchester junior forward by a few yards.
Enis took care of the other 20 by himself.
Winchester took care of Centerville, too, as Enis rushed for nearly 300 yards and all five Falcon touchdowns in a 33-12 victory.
Enis once again put up big numbers, and did so in miserable weather conditions. He rushed for 295 yards as the Falcons earned a spot in next Friday’s Class 2A Sectional 38 final at Shenandoah.
“Winchester’s never won a sectional championship before, so we have a chance to make history,” Enis said.
Enis has been making his own history this season.
The two-sport standout leads the state in rushing — he had 2,830 yards heading into Friday’s semifinal — and crossing the 3,000 threshold for a single season puts him in select company with only six other players.
New Haven’s Cory Jacquay is No. 1 on the list with 3,366 yards in 2001.
Enis broke for touchdown runs of 66, 67, 41, 23 and 40 yards, and did so in whipping winds, cold rain and, eventually, snow flurries.
“He’s just hard to stop,” said Centerville coach Perry Irwin. “He’s got fantastic speed and when he’s gone, he’s gone.”
Enis’ first two touches went to the end zone.
Centerville eventually corralled the 6-foot-2 running back a few times, but playing out of the wildcat meant the football was in Enis’ hands every time he lined up on offense.
He scored four times in the first half as Winchester took a 26-6 lead into halftime.
“It was super nice to know that we were all on the right page with what we had done with preparation,” said Winchester coach Mike Jones.
“I thought our defense played really well again tonight. I’m really proud of our kids. This was obviously not an easy situation to play football in.”
Winchester’s big-play capability was such that the Falcons caused the first down marker to flip just once to sustain a drive while they had the ball.
“It was great, especially in all this weather, we came out with some fire,” said Enis, who has a scholarship offer from Indiana for football and from IPFW for basketball. “We just started attacking from the beginning.”
Winchester knocked off the Bulldogs 40-8 on Oct. 17 in the regular-season finale, and the Bulldogs wanted a closer game in the rematch.
Mitchell Burelison made it 14-6 with a 1-yard touchdown for Centerville with 11:18 left in the second quarter, but Enis answered with two more scores before the break.
The Bulldog offense went through Burelison. He carried the ball 45 times for 151 yards and scored another 1-yard TD in the fourth quarter.
“I’m just proud. Our kids played hard,” Irwin said. “I thought the second half, offensively, we marched up and down the field. With the weather conditions, it kind of threw our game plan out the window.
“We were going to try and spread them out a little bit. With this 30 mile per hour wind, it kind of took away from what we wanted to do. We just lined up and played some smashmouth football with them offensively.”
Centerville finished 6-5. The Bulldogs were third in the Tri-Eastern Conference and contended for the title.
“We had a great year,” Irwin said. “I’m just looking forward to getting better year after year.”
After two playoff home games, Winchester (10-1) will travel to Shenandoah (9-2) for next week’s Sectional 38 final.
The Raiders halted Heritage Christian 28-0 in the other semifinal. Shenandoah played in the sectional championship last season and won a title in 2012.
“It’s one those deals where there are only 16 of us left in 2A to still be playing football,” Jones said. “I just thought we came out sharp. We came out focused.
“My hat’s off to Centerville. Those kids played right to the very end. That’s a good football team. I’m proud of our kids. They played super hard.”
Sports editor Josh Chapin: (765) 973-4463, jchapin@pal-item.com or twitter.com/JoshChapinPI.
sectional 38 football
Friday’s scores
• Winchester 33, Centerville 12
• Shenandoah 28, Heritage Christian 0
Championship game
• Friday: Winchester at Shenandoah, 7 p.m.