Central coach Tony Dudik and his Indians might have questioned he final miscue Friday night, but there were plenty of other mistakes to lament against Lee’s Summit.

Officials wiped out Malkaam Muhammad’s apparent 22-yard second-half touchdown run on a fumble call as Central vainly tried to erase a 27-point halftime deficit. But shortcomings on four first-half plays created too much to overcome.

One week after Dudik recorded his 100th career victory with the Indians in a dramatic overtime win, Central lost 30-15 to Lee’s Summit at Noyes Field.

“As great as we played last week, that was about as poor of a first half,” Dudik said. “That’s coach Dudik’s fault. I did talk about Lee’s Summit and not having a letdown, respecting those guys, but I did not convince my football team.

“They will be convinced from now on.”

Central’s problems started at the beginning.

On the opening possession, linebacker Blake Smith dropped a sure interception on a pass from Lee’s Summit quarterback Corbin Berkstresser. The Tigers took advantage and scored on 1-yard touchdown runs to finish each of their first two possessions — one apiece for Berkstresser and Zachary Stark.

Central answered the second score with a drive into Lee’s Summit territory, but the Tigers stopped Alex Ray on a third-and-1 and then quarterback Ryan Wallace on a fourth-down sneak attempt.

On the ensuing play, King Frazier broke up the middle for a 71-yard score that gave Lee’s Summit (2-3, 1-2 Big 7) a 20-0 lead with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.

“That old saying about you have to live for another play,” Dudik said. “When that one’s over — that bad one’s over — you have to move on. I’m not sure we did that in that first half.”

Lee’s Summit rolled up 214 yards of offense in that opening quarter — 88 rushing for Stark, 82 on the ground for Frazier and 43 passing for Berkstresser.

The 20-point deficit appeared to be Central’s halftime burden before a late stand gave the Indians possession at their own 20 with 3 seconds left. Rather than go to halftime, Central tried a hook-and-ladder play that resulted in a fumble.

King scooped up the turnover and scored from 16 yards out to make it 27-0 on the half’s final play.

“In hindsight, that’s probably a pretty poor call on my part,” Dudik said, “but I’m going to battle and fight as long as there is time on the clock.”

The damage proved irreparable despite an improved showing from Central

After a halftime lasting more than an hour due to lightning delays, Central (2-3, 2-2 Big 7) closed to within 27-7 on its second possession when Muhammad scored from 11 yards out. Lee’s Summit’s Kyle Gross then hit a 33-yard field goal to stretch the lead back out to 23.

Muhammad appeared to draw the Indians even closer when he burst up the middle from the 22.

The bulky junior running back appeared to roll over the goal line before the ball slipped out of his grasp. Instead, officials ruled a loss of control, and Lee’s Summit’s recovery in the end zone resulted in a touchback.

“I felt strongly (he scored), but they had a better view than me,” Dudik said.

Instead of closing to within two scores, Central had to stop Lee’s Summit, block a punt and run five more plays before Ray scored with 5:43 left.

Muhammad’s 2-point conversion made it 30-15, but Central only ran one more offensive play, an interception on a trick play.

“You have to blame that loss on the first half,” Smith said. “This loss is going to humble us after a big win against Blue Springs South. We’re still only halfway through the guaranteed season.”

Stark finished with 101 yards, while Frazier accrued 165 on only 15 carries. Central totaled nearly 200 yards on the ground, but Wallace managed only 46 passing yards on 14 attempts, eight completions.