Photo by Brian McLean
BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARLINGTON— After 17 years, the title drought is over for the Celina Bobcats. The 55-21 win for the 4A Division I championship over the Kilgore Bulldogs on Friday afternoon brings the traditional power to nine state championships, tying Katy and Richland Springs for third most in the state of Texas.
Junior quarterback Bowe Bentley led the charge for the Bobcats offensively, completing nine of his 14 pass attempts for 265 yards and five touchdowns. He also added 66 yards rushing on 12 carries. He was named Offensive MVP of the game.
“It’s incredible,” Bentley said in the postgame press conference. “It’s been a childhood dream to win a state championship and to do that it’s pretty cool. I was hoping I’d get six, but you can’t get everything.”
Ethan Rucker and Colton Rodriguez were on the receiving end for the majority of Bentley’s stellar performance. Rucker caught three passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns, while Rodriguez accounted for 149 yards on five catches and a pair of scores as well.
Junior defensive back Luke Biagini was named Defensive MVP for his nine total tackles and his interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Celina scored on every drive they had aside from the final drive late in the fourth quarter. The two Bobcat touchdowns in the first quarter were both from Bentley to Rucker from 34 and 60 yards respectively.
Kilgore kept it interesting early with a 12-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Watters to tie it at seven, but Celina responded to make the score 13-7 after a missed extra point.
On the first play of the second quarter, Kilgore took the lead on a wide receiver screen from Kayson Brooks to Javon Towns to make the score 14-13. That was the last bit of daylight the Bulldogs saw.
“Kilgore came in and played hard but we were able to make some adjustments defensively,” head coach Bill Elliott mentioned. “The offense started to get the hang of things and started to move the ball. Very proud of our kids, our kids have worked hard all year long and it’s a great group.”
They went three-and-out on their next two drives of the half. The Bobcats took full advantage of their defense stepping up. They were held to field goals twice, which Braden Johnson perfectly put through the uprights, then Bentley connected with Rodriguez for the first time to make the halftime score 27-14 after a two-point conversion.
Celina scored 28 points in the third quarter including the Biagini pick-six, a seven yard run by Harrison Williams. Rucker also came up with an interception to set up the score from Williams. The final Bobcat touchdown came on Bentley’s last touchdown pass to Wyatt Villarreal.
The Bulldogs final score came in the fourth quarter with a 21-yard pass to La’keyleon Graves, bringing the final score to 55-21.
