Refuse to lose

CELINA - For the entire evening, Celina tried everything it could to slow down Elida quarterback Keshawn Spivey.

It took until the final Elida offensive play for Celina to come up with a stopper.

Celina scored the go-ahead touchdown with two minutes remaining in regulation and then stopped Elida' comeback drive with an interception to come away from the battle of Bulldogs with a 42-38 win at Celina Stadium on Friday.

It was not the prettiest nights for Celina. The team lost two fumbles, had four 15-yard penalties in the game and finished with eight penalties for 90 yards.

Yet, Brennen Bader's young squad came though when needed.

"I'm just proud of the kids," said Bader. "One thing we challenged these kids with from the get-go is how to respond to adversity. My thought tonight is they epitomized what it meant to be a true team tonight. … They kept fighting and made enough plays at the end to win the game."  

Celina struggled early. When a blocked punt put them at the Elida 17-yard line, Celina lost 14 yards and gave up the ball at the Elida 31. That set up Elida's first score off a 15-play drive which saw a Celina roughing-the-passer penalty and later a 31-yard pass from Keshawn Spivey to Devon Barnett put Elida in the red zone. Spivey scored the opening touchdown with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

Celina needed just two plays to answer, with the second play being a 58-yard run by Jaxson Silliman. Ethan Dirksen's PAT boot tied the game. Elida punted on its next drive, but Celina fumbled the ball on the first play from scrimmage, putting Elida at the Celina 10, where Marcel Poe scored. The PAT was blocked to give Elida a 13-7 lead.

On Celina's next possession, Celina used the run to set up a pass from Cooper Jones to Quinn Andrew from 36 yards to give the home team a 14-13 lead after the PAT. After forcing an Elida punt, Celina extended the lead on an eight-play drive ending with Silliman snagging a 10-yard pass from Jones with 2:33 left in the half.

Elida wasn't ready to just take a knee and head to the half as a great kick return put Elida at the Celina 31. Four plays later, Spivey scored to get Elida to within one at 21-20 with 68 seconds left.

Celina put together its best-run drive of the night, using runs out of bounds and sideline pass plays to get down to the Elida 2, where Silliman punched in with five seconds remaining to give Celina a 28-20 halftime lead.

Elida picked up where it left off in the first half, scoring on its opening drive as Spivey hit Marcel Poe for a 29-yard touchdown pass. Celina bounced back as Jones found an opening on a second-and-seven and scored from 37 yards out to keep Celina front by a touchdown. Late in the third quarter, Elida went for a field goal as Gunner Kuhn booted a 29-yarder with 1:09 remaining in the quarter to make it a 35-30 game.

Celina suffered its second fumble of the night after Quinn Andrews caught a 15-yard pass and lost the ball. Elida recovered but had to punt after four plays. Celina was unable to move the ball on its next series and punted to Elida's 29.

Poe came up with several big runs to move Elida, getting to the Celina 30. Spivey then found Nick Niebel wide out without a Celina defender within five yards, for the core with 4:47 left to play. Spivey went around end on the two-point conversion to give Elida a 38-35 lead.

Undaunted, Celina started its ensuing drive at their 34-yard line. Silliman and Jones ran the ball and picked up a first down. The drive started to bog down as Celina was hit with an illegal procedure call to put them at third-and-12 from the Celina 42. Jones showed pass before tucking the ball and scampering 34 yards for a first down at the Elida 24. Jones then found Collin Harris for an 11-yard pass down to the 13 and then Max Thobe for a seven-yard strike to get to the six. Silliman went around the left tackle and bulled his way into the end zone for the go-ahead score with 2:04 to play.

"Hats off to a lot of players, but Cooper, having the posise to come out with four minutes to play (and be like) 'no problem,' " said Bader. "He leads them right down the field and made the plays to get in the end zone. Jaxson is someone we can always count on, but it took a balanced effort on offense."

Elida still had time and started its drive at their 41. Spivey broke several tackles for a 15-yard gain to the Celina 44. After throwing an incomplete pass on first down, the next pass was deep. Only this time Andrew caught the ball and ran it out of bounds at the Celina 32 with 1:20 to play. Elida still had two timeouts to use, so Silliman picked up six yards on his first carry and two more on his second. Jones then powered his way for three yards for the first down and the ability to take a knee to run out the clock.

"Spivey is so dangerous. … There were times we thought we had him bottled up and he had 20 yard gains," said Bader. "But we did enough defensively to win. Quinn was sick with the flu this week and wasn't 100% today. He had to play both sides of the ball and sealed the deal."

Jones had a big night, rushing for 133 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown and was 17-of-22 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Silliman rushed for 110 yards and three scores. Andrew had six catches for 93 yards and a score.

Spivey rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 131 yards and two more scores for Elida.

Celina travels to Bath next Friday to face the Wildcats. Elida returns home to Kraft Stadium to face winless Defiance.