NILES — An inability to stop Kalamazoo Central on third down cost Niles in its high school football game Friday against the Maroon Giants.

Kalamazoo Central finished 8-for-10 on third down conversions in posting a 21-3 Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference win over Niles.

“We had kids in the right spots a lot of time and we just couldn’t bring them down,” said Niles coach Dan Brawley, whose team fell to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the West Division of the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference. “We just didn’t get them off the field tonight defensively. No. 2 (Kalamazoo Central’s Branden Delk) is a heck of a running back. He ran hard.”

Delk finished with 93 yards on 16 carries. Teammate Kenyon Smith added 62 yards on the ground on 16 carries with three touchdowns. The Maroon Giants rushed for 163 yards.

“We pride ourselves on being able to run the football and to play better in the second half,” said Kalamazoo Central coach Dana Chambers Sr., whose improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the West Division.

An inability to stop the pass hurt Niles during Kalamazoo Central’s first touchdown drive. Maroon Giants quarterback Von Washington III completed 4-of-4 passes for 70 yards during the Maroon Giants second offensive drive of the game. The biggest pass play was a 36-yard hook-up between Washington and Tre Foley on 3rd-and-19, which gave the visitors the ball at the Vikings’ 20-yard line. Four plays later, Smith scored on a three-yard run to give Kalamazoo Central a 7-0 lead with 9:54 left in the second quarter.

“It was good,” Chambers said about his team’s passing attack. “We needed the victory.”

Niles’ best drive in the first half came at the end when the Vikings drove to the Maroon Giants’ 32-yard line. But Niles wouldn’t get any closer to the end zone.

“Offensively, we moved the ball well at times,” Brawley said. “Three weeks ago we started with five (healthy) offensive linemen. Last week, we were missing two (offensive linemen) and tonight we were missing two. That makes a big difference.”

Niles got a spark to begin the second half when Anthoney Bice returned the opening kickoff 28 yards to the Vikings 39-yard line. After three first downs, Niles’ drive stalled and the Vikings got a 35-yard field goal from Ryan Casey with 5:22 left in the third quarter to cut Kalamazoo Central’s lead to 7-3. That’s Casey’s first career varsity field goal.

“I knew he could do it,” Brawley said. “That was a nice boot. It was a fourth-and-five and we wanted to be in position to take the lead later.”

Taking the lead became more difficult for Niles after Kalamazoo Central responded with a 14-play, 71-yard drive to take a 14-3 lead. The drive was capped by Smith’s nine-yard touchdown run with 11:54 left in the game.

After stopping Niles on downs, Kalamazoo Central put together an eight-play, 40-yard drive that ended with Smith’s seven-yard scoring run with 3:40 left in the game.

“They’re a good football team,” Brawley said. “They put drives together and controlled the clock.”

The Vikings rushed for 176 yards with Brandon Partee leading the way with 80 yards on 19 carries. Ronnie Jones added 78 yards on 17 carries.

Niles received a scare in the second quarter when starting quarterback Cole Clemens took a vicious hit while going out of bounds on a 12-yard run. Clemens missed the remainder of the first half, but returned to the field to start the second half.

“He’s a tough kid,” Brawley said about Clemens. “That was a heck of a pop he took on our sideline. But he’s fine.”

Kalamazoo 0 7 0 14 – 21

Niles 0 0 3 0 – 3

K – Kenyon Smith 3 run (Scott Rowley kick)

N – Ryan Casey 35 field goal

K – Smith 9 run (Rowley kick)

K – Smith 7 run (Rowley kick)