Alvarado Indian football falls to powerhouse Celina in blowout fashion to end season

After its’ customary slow start, perennial powerhouse Celina overwhelmed out-manned Alvarado, 55-14, at Chisholm Trail High School’s Ranger Stadium Friday night in a Class 4A D2 area playoff round matchup.

In the early going, Alvarado looked competitive. The Indians (7-5) stopped Celina on its’ first three possessions. But on the Alvarado’s second possession, disaster struck the Indians. The ball was fumbled and returned 34 yards for a touchdown by Cooper Farrow for a 6-0 Celina lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter.

Still, it looked like the Indians would make a game of it. They were able at first to drive up and down the field. They just weren’t able to score.

The fumble return notwithstanding, on their other first three possessions, the Indians drove from their 28-yard line to the Celina 32, from their 25 to the Celina 35, and from the Celina 37 to the 28. They were stopped on fourth down all three times.

They were unable to convert on fourth-and-two, fourth-and-five, and fourth-and-one. For the game, they were 0-4 on fourth down.

In the meantime, the Celina offense was not faring much better. On their first three possessions, the Bobcats failed to convert on fourth-and-five,and punted the next two times.

However, they were able to get their offense in gear after that. And when they did, things snowballed from there. They scored on their next three possessions to take a 25-0 halftime lead.

First, they drove 72 yards in nine plays. The drive ended with an 18-yard run by Harrison Williams with 6:03 left before halftime. They added a 5-yard scoring run by Williams and a 30-yard scoring pass to Colton Rodriguez from quarterback Knox Porter.

The latter came with 5.6 seconds left before intermission. The Bobcats got the ball with 51.8 seconds left in the half at their 49-yard line. They drove the distance in six plays, calling a pair of timeouts in the duration. Rodriguez caught it at the post near the goal line.

In the second half, a seemingly re-energized and inspired Alvarado team, undaunted by the turn of events late in the first half, took the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards in eight plays. A 9-yard pass to Shamarian Lee on a crossing pattern from quarterback Cardea Collier finally put the Indians on the scoreboard, 25-6.

Unfortunately for Alvarado, Celina responded by scoring the next three touchdowns to put the game away before the third quarter was over. Logan Gutierrez and Bowe Bentley scored from 3 and 4 yards, respectively. An open Michael Reed then took a mid-range pass from Bentley, who alternated with Porter at quarterback, and turned it into a 55-yard scoring play and a 46-6 Celina lead.

In the fourth quarter, Gutierrez added his second touchdown from 2 yards out. Alvarado got a second team touchdown midway in the stanza when Collier connected deep with Dorian Potter for a 56-yard touchdown. Finally, Cole Marinelli finished the scoring with a sack in the end zone of Collier for a safety.

Celina head coach Bill Elliott disputed the perception that Celina typically starts slow before shifting into high gear. Elliot said in the bi-district round the team “came out on fire.”

Elliot said his team moved the ball well in the start against Alvarado but were stopped during the initial possession.

“We came back and got after it,” Elliot said. “They’re (Indians) a good football team. When you play a good football team, sometimes these things are going to happen. But we controlled the ball from the very start really.”

Alvarado head coach Casey Walraven said he team started well but couldn’t execute well at times.

“On a couple of short-yardage situations we didn’t execute very well,” Walraven said. “Celina’s a championship program for a reason. They took advantage of some of those momentum shifts. We couldn’t overcome it. But I’m proud of the guys, the way they kept competing. Credit to Celina, championship program for sure.”

For Alvarado, Collier was 21-33-1 passing for 259 yards and both Alvarado touchdowns.

Celina threw much less, attempting only eight passes. On the ground, Williams and Gutierrez each rushed 19 times for 120 and 158 yards, respectively, for two touchdowns apiece. Teammate Jacob Brown contributed 98 yards on 11 carries all in the second half.