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With much at stake Friday evening in front of a homecoming crowd, the Friendly High School football team had to wait a while to really get its game going fast-forward.

Unable to score against visiting Central through the game's first 29 minutes, the Patriots finally broke free on a 59-yard touchdown run by junior Jordan Haden with 7 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The score came one play after Friendly appeared set to punt the ball away after an incomplete pass by sophomore quarterback Sherrod Baltimore on a third and seven from Patriots' 26-yard line. But the Central defense was flagged for roughing the passer, costing it 15 yards, giving Friendly the opportunity it needed. Haden's touchdown opened the floodgates, as the Patriots scored on the rest of their possessions, minus a last-second kneel down from Baltimore to run out the clock in a 31-6 victory.

Coming off a shutout loss at Gwynn Park a week earlier that cost them a potential No. 1 seed in the 3A South Region playoffs, the Patriots were intent on getting past Central and gaining a home game in the first round of the playoffs.

"I think our kids felt because it was Central, that it was Central of old and they would come in here and lay it on them," said Friendly coach John Morgan Jr. "Little did they know that [Central coach] Stan [Hall] won a state championship [as an assistant] at Parkdale, and [Central assistant coach Mike] Rucker, was the head coach. They have some veterans over there. It was a matter of our guys figuring it out that it was going to be a dogfight and they had to wake up and start playing football.

"[Central's] kids were excited. This was their opportunity to win some games. They were on a winning streak. It was an opportunity for them to come in here and shock us, especially after what happened against Gwynn Park. They played pretty good against Gwynn Park and scored some points on them. We didn't score anything against Gwynn Park."

Until Haden scored Friday, Friendly hadn't scored anything since a Week 8 victory against Largo. But then the points came in droves. Isaiah Fulton had touchdown runs of 9 and 26 yards and Baltimore added an 11-yard touchdown run. Bryson Carr capped the scoring with a six-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

Friendly outgained Central, 200-98, from the line of scrimmage in the second half.

"At halftime, we had a little meeting and we said that they are not better than us," said senior running back Dewayne Price. "We're a second-half team, so we knew we would come out strong."

After missing the playoffs last year, when the team was hit with six forfeits for using an ineligible player, the Patriots finished 8-2 this season in Morgan's first year to share the County 3A/2A/1A League title with Frederick Douglass and Gwynn Park. All three had 7-1 league records. Friendly will host Westlake (8-2) of Charles County in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday.

"We're doing better than everyone thought we could do," said Price. "We should have gone to states last year, but they took that away from us, so we told ourselves that we're going this year."

"We're home and we have our band," added senior tight end Milton Gilchrist. "We always like playing to our band."

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.