RICHMOND — Before his team sat down last Saturday morning to watch the film of a disappointing 41-23 loss to Lexington Catholic, Madison Central coach Bert Browne had a warning for the players.

“I told them, ‘You are going to be sick,’” Browne said. “‘You are going to be sick because you are going to see that if you had taken care of business then you would have won this game by two touchdowns.’”

The footage showed the Indians how a few missed opportunities allowed a pair of 10-point first-half leads to slip away against one of the better Class 4A programs in the state.

Admittedly, it was tough for the players and the coaches to watch.

“That film really showed us that we should have won that game,” Central senior Austin Coyle said. “But, little things happened.”

As much as that loss hurt, the Indians know they must learn from those mistakes and move on.

Central (2-2) will look to snap a two-game losing streak today at home against Dunbar (2-2). Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

“We knew those were probably our two biggest games of the season,” Coyle said of playing Scott County (4-1) and Lexington Catholic (4-1) in back to back weeks on the road. “Against Scott County, we had a lot of injuries and that’s not to make any excuses. Against Lexington Catholic we know there were a lot of things we should have done. There were things we should have capitalized on.”

After falling 41-16 at Scott County, the Indians had their chances against Lexington Catholic.

Central took advantage of two turnovers and ran out to a 10-0 lead and then was up 17-7 with just more than three minutes left before halftime.

But, the Knights got two touchdowns just before the end of the half and the Indians were never able to regain the lead.

“Championship teams take advantage of those things,” Browne said of the quick start. “They end it early for people.”

The Indians allowed a season-high 510 yards, including 362 passing by senior standout Kyle Bolin, who has committed to Louisville.

Central had just 294 yards of total offense (233 passing), but got another solid performance from Ken-Jah Bosley. After missing the Scott County game for health reasons, the senior had eight catches for 123 yards.

The Indians won the turnover battle (+1) for the third time this season, finished with a season-low 30 yards in penalties, converted four-of-five red zone opportunities and had their best performance on third downs so far this season.

Through the first three games, Central was just seven-of-34 on third downs. The Indians were nine-of-18 against Catholic.

 Still, the Indians weren’t able to deliver the knockout blow when they got momentum early.

The same thing happened last season on the road against Dunbar.

The Indians had a 28-0 lead just after halftime and in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter had a 41-7 advantage.

The Bulldogs fought back before a late touchdown sealed a 47-23 win for Central.

“I don’t want to say we underestimated them, but in a way we did,” Coyle said of last year’s game. “We went up there thinking we were going to blow them out. And we did have them on the ropes, but we didn’t step on their throats.”

The Bulldogs opened the season with a 45-6 loss to Eastern, then bounced backed with two hard-fought wins (20-15 over Fern Creek and 28-7 over East Jessamine). That win streak came to an end last weekend with a 55-21 loss at home to Lafayette.

In the loss to the Generals, Dunbar had five turnovers, which led to 21 points. Lafayette took a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and was up 42-7 at halftime.

The Bulldogs fumbled the ball away on their first three possessions of the game.

Quarterback Emory Thompson was 7-of-11 for three touchdowns and also rushed for 60 yards. Taylor Smith had three receptions for 77 yards and two touchdowns.

In the win over East Jessamine, Antwaun Williams had 153 yards on 14 rushes with a touchdown. Thompson was 9-of-16 for 94 yards and a touchdown, while Smith had five catches for 62 yards.

The Bulldogs held East Jessamine to -3 yards passing.

“They’ve got a good quarterback and tailback,” Browne said of Dunbar. “Defensively, they’ve given up some points, so we’ve got to take advantage of some of the things they do.”

In last year’s game, Central racked up 504 yards of total offense and forced three turnovers. Senior tailback Dominique Hawkins had 196 yards rushing and two touchdowns and quarterback Hunter Stocker was 11-of-18 for 192 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ve just got to do what we do,” Browne said.