Celina football thrives in area round, cruises past Kennedale to end Wildcats’ season
In November of 2022, the Kennedale Wildcats faced the Celina Bobcats and fell short, 34-28.
History repeated itself as the Bobcats defeated the Wildcats in a Class 4A D1 high school football area championship, 49-7, at Pennington Field on Friday, Nov. 22.
Celina will face Aubrey in the 4A D1 regional final on Thursday, Nov. 28. The location and time of the game is to be determined. Kennedale’s season ends at 6-6.
The Bobcats set the tone from the start. On their first play of the game, running back Logan Guitierrez ran for 42 yards, putting Celina in prime scoring position at Kennedale’s 26-yard line.
This drive ended in a six-yard rushing score from quarterback Bowe Bentley.
An early key play for Celina was a recovered onside kick in the first quarter. Wide receiver Jack Jones recorded an 18-yard receiving touchdown to go up 14-0 on Kennedale. The Bobcats recovered the onside kick and quickly scored again with a two-yard rushing score from Bentley.
Celina scored two more touchdowns before Kennedale was able to stop their momentum. The Bobcats had back-to-back fumbles to close out the first half.
The Wildcats’ defense couldn’t stop Celina’s run game. Gutierrez dominated against the struggling unit tallying 176 rushing yards on 14 attempts and one touchdown. Five of Celina’s seven touchdowns were from the ground.
Ethan Rucker was the team and game-leading receiver with eight receptions for 122 receiving yards and one touchdown. He recorded multiple catches for double-digit yards.
“They controlled the line of scrimmage,” said Kennedale head coach Richard Barrett. “Their defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, and we had problems with that. And when you do that, it makes things very difficult.”
Kennedale had small bursts of momentum but only secured seven first downs and could not match Celina’s tempo. The Wildcats could tally one touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 31-yard rushing score from RB Laurrence Watkins.
Barrett said Celina’s defense was tough, and the offense didn’t get done what needed to be done.
Celina had 529 total yards of offense compared to Kennedale’s 108 total yards. The Bobcats had more penalties than the Wildcats, but Kennedale wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunities.
Barrett said Kennedale had breakdowns on a few defensive assignments.
“We didn’t carry them out,” Barrett said. “And we didn’t do exactly what we’re supposed to do. And then obviously that made some big gains for Celina.”
Despite the loss, Barrett is proud of how the team overcame adversity with five losses before facing Celina. He said the team dealt with injuries and sickness, but didn’t give up and kept fighting.
“We’ve had broken collar bones and concussions,” Barrett said. “We have sickness going through our team. And, you know, it would be easy to lay down and quit and call it good, but that’s the resiliency of our kids that they chose to fight, stand up and do the very best they can.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 11:26 PM.