The varsity football rivalry between Central High School and Nottoway High School was alive and well Friday night, with the Chargers holding on to a narrow 14-13 lead at halftime.

But they made the appropriate adjustments to pull away in the second half, scoring 28 unanswered points to register a 42-13 road win over the Cougars.

“They were sticking it to us, and they had a lot of momentum,” Central Head Coach Will Thomas said. “They were fired up coming out of halftime, and I didn’t think we were, but we did some things and held onto the football, and we wore them down a little bit, I think.”

Thomas said the Chargers began to run their offense differently.

“We put (Malik) Foster at quarterback and kind of let him do what he does and got out of our usual double wing stuff, and I think that kind of helped us a little bit,” Thomas said. “We started executing, too, started holding our blocks longer and doing what we’re supposed to do.”

Foster finished the game with 29 carries for 115 yards, including touchdown runs of two and seven yards. He also went 2-for-4 passing for 119 yards.

Keenan Anunay scored three touchdowns, two on one-yard carries and one on a 10-yard carry. He also had 119 receiving yards.

Dashawn Moore scored on a 27-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Central produced 330 yards of offense.

“Our defense was phenomenal,” Thomas said, noting that Nottoway’s only points came on a fumble return and on a drive that started on the Charger 8-yard line due to a Central fumble on offense.

Tylik Thomas grabbed three interceptions for the Chargers, while Anunay, after catching three of his own the week prior against Buckingham, added another one against the Cougars.

“You’ve got to give credit to the front seven,” Thomas said. “They’re putting some pressure on, making them throw some bad throws. Any time you do that, it’s always a team effort on that part. Chris Fowler, Ben Spencer, Quazale Jones, Raymond Alexander — those guys are putting some pressure on there, and that’s huge.”

Fowler led Central with 14 tackles, Alexander had 13 and Dion Graham had 11.

Central (5-1) has a bye this week and then hosts Bluestone for its homecoming game Friday, Oct. 14. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.