Late touchdown lifts Celina past Elida

CELINA - Just by looking at the Celina players as they came out on offense with 2:51 left in the game and down six points, you could see they were bound and determined to come away with the win.

Caleb Hoyng found Ryan Harter in the end zone with 30 seconds left to tie the game, Kole Murlin's PAT gave Celina the lead, and Jacob Stolly's interception of Logan Alexander sealed the deal as Celina beat Elida 35-34 in the Western Buckeye League opener at Celina Stadium.

After struggling at times in the opening night loss to Versailles and making some personnel and positional changes this week, Celina coach Trent Temple was proud of his team's effort.

"They never quit," Temple said. "This group of kids, these seniors, have instilled this thought 'No matter how bad things go, we can get out there and fight to the very end until there is no more clock left.' It showed tonight."

The game was a back-and-forth battle with neither team getting more than seven points ahead at any point. Celina was up 21-14 late in the first half before Alexander ran for a two-yard touchdown with eight seconds left to tie the game at the break.

Elida made the first move in the second half when it looked like they would have to punt. Baylen Stinson took the direct snap on the punt fake and scampered 63 yards for the score to make it 28-21 with 1:14 left in the third quarter.

After the teams traded possessions, Celina found its mark as Hoyng started looking deep. Buoyed by an Elida pass interference call, Hoyng took a third-and-three play and turned it into a 46-yard scoring pass to Zack Marks with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game to tie the game.

The teams traded punts again as Elida got the ball back with 4:16 to go on the Celina 44-yard line. Three runs by Alexander, the last going for 32 yards and a touchdown, put Elida up 34-28 after the PAT was missed.

With 2:51 to go, Celina was poised to come back. Marks returned the kick to the Celina 41 to start the drive. After another Elida pass interference call, Hoyng hit Duss Vondenhuevel for an 11-yard strike. Two plays later, on third-and-nine from the Elida 32, Hoyng hit Stolly for a 12-yard pass to move the chains. Three straight runs put Celina inside the 10-yard line with less than a minute to go. An incomplete pass to Marks in the end zone was followed by a two-yard run by Hoyng to get to the six with 35 seconds left after Celina called its final timeout. On the next play, Hoyng looked into the end zone and found Harter for the second time on the night, the other being a 77-yard score in the first half. Murlin, perfect on his first four PATs of the night, left no doubt again as the ball easily sailed through the uprights to give Celina a 35-34 lead.

"I had confidence in Kole. I knew he could make it," Hoyng said. "All we had to do is get down there and score. We all did our part. That's how we succeeded."

Elida, having to pass, took advantage of a Celina pass interference call to move to the Elida 36. Alexander tried another deep pass. This time, Stolly snagged it like a receiver with five seconds left to ice the game.

"He made a great play with the ball. He was fully extended," Temple said of Stolly. "It was a great play for a defender."

Hoyng, who struggled a bit last week against Versailles, was 13-of-22 for 224 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 79 yards and a score. Dylan Collins had 10 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown. Harter had six catches for 134 yards.

"I put my faith in the line," Hoyng said. "They led us to victory."

"I said last week this is what we're capable of doing," Temple said. "Everything was off last week due to the bad snaps. This is a timing offense. ... We made some changes this week and the kids responded."

Alexander, the reigning WBL offensive back of the year, rushed for 155 yards on 29 carries and scored three of the four Elida touchdowns, but was just 5-of-13 passing for 81 yards and the final interception.

"We made an adjustment by putting a guy in the gap instead of head-up (directly in front of a lineman)," Temple said. "That really helped out in getting back there and being disruptive. ... We know (Alexander) is going to come ready to play."

Celina heads north to Bath next Friday to take on the 1-1 Wildcats. Elida returns to Kraft Stadium to host Defiance.