In for the win

CELINA - Celina quarterback Cooper Jones wowed his coach with a highlight-reel, 41-yard touchdown Friday night.

"That was one of the most amazing runs I've ever seen a high school kid make," coach Brennen Bader said.

Bader was amazed by Celina's collective effort, too.

Jones accounted for four total touchdowns, and the Bulldogs held the Bath Wildcats scoreless over the final 24 minutes to earn their second straight victory with a 28-21 outcome at Celina Stadium.

The teams entered intermission tied at 21-apiece before a scoreless third quarter. Quinn Andrew and Quade Gilmore each snagged key interceptions in the fourth period for Celina. Andrew's led to the go-ahead touchdown, a 6-yard pass pitch and catch from Jones to Conner Altstaetter with 9:50 remaining.

The Bulldogs have now won back-to-back games in improving to 3-2 ahead of a showdown at rival St. Marys next week. The Wildcats fell to 1-4.

Bath covered 60 yards on 11 plays to score on the game-opening drive, converting three third downs in the process. Carter Parlapiano capped it off with a 6-yard touchdown as the clock hit 6:08.

The home team answered quickly.

On Celina's second play, Jones found Conner Altstaetter for a gain of 64 yards after the receiver got behind the coverage. Shortly after, Jones scrambled for a 5-yard touchdown.

A 21-yard touchdown pass from freshman QB Bradyn Fleharty to Lex Bodicker made the score 14-7 late in the first quarter.

Celina scored the next 14 points.

A fumble recovery by Andrew gave the Bulldogs possession at the Bath 41 with 7:57 left in the half. Jones rushed for eight yards on a fourth-and-7 from the 38. A few plays later, the senior quarterback flipped a 26-yard pass into the end zone to Aidan Song. Carter Altstaetter's extra point leveled the score.

Jones' big highlight followed.

Scrambling to the right on third down, Jones made a few defenders miss, ran back across the field and down the sideline for a 41-yard touchdown that gave Celina a 21-14 advantage with 2:23 left in the half. He ran an estimated 80 yards on the play.

"We see it in practice all the time, and we've said it the last couple weeks, if we get that Cooper Jones week in, week out, we're going to be pretty good," Bader said. "He's stepping up to the plate, and I'm pretty proud of him."

But the third-down bug bit Celina again late in the quarter.

Facing a third-and-nine from Celina's 29, Fleharty tossed a screen pass to Blaine Albright, who broke a tackle and dashed to a 19-yard gain. A 2-yard TD trot by Kahne Sullivan and an extra point by Keaton Liles tied the score at halftime.

"Offensively, I really liked what we were doing in the first half," Bader said. "We knew we had to throw the ball - they're big up front and we knew it'd be tough sledding rushing, especially early. The game plan was to throw the ball, loosen them up and hopefully that would create some running lanes later in the game. I thought we executed that pretty well."

Defensive execution wasn't great in the first half, however. A number of third-down conversions allowed Bath to score 21 first-half points. Celina's defense didn't allow that to happen in the second half, though.

Celina punted away the opening second-half possession. Bath then stalled in Celina territory. The Bulldogs reached the red zone on their next drive, thanks to a fourth-and-long conversion pass from Jones to Andrew. That drive also stalled, though, and the teams were still locked at 21-all after three quarters.

It wasn't tied for much longer.

With Bath facing a third-and-long deep inside its own territory, Fleharty tried to make a play, but Andrew stepped in front of the pass and rumbled to the 6-yard line. Jones and Conner Altstaetter connected for a 6-yard touchdown on Celina's ensuing snap.

Bath took its next drive inside the Celina 40, but the Bulldogs stuffed a fourth-down play a foot short of the sticks with 5 minutes to play.

The Wildcats got back the ball at their own 27 with 2:34 on the clock. They didn't have it very long. On the second play, Fleharty's pass went through the hands of his running back and into the hands of Gilmore. A 17-yard first-down run by Jaxson Silliman put the game on ice.

"We really didn't make any adjustments at half," Bader said. "We just needed to take better angles and make tackles. That was the issue in the first half - we should have been off the field three or four times and we didn't wrap up and make tackles. They continued drives and scored on most of them. The second half wasn't perfect, but we did tackle a lot better. I'm proud of our kids for being resilient. They kept fighting. We made enough plays and got a couple takeaways there in the fourth quarter that kind of helped seal the deal, and our offense scored when they had to."

Jones completed 14-of-20 passes for 185 yards while adding 10 carries for 71 yards. Silliman had a team-high 74 yards on 19 carries. Celina heads to St. Marys (3-2) next Friday seeking its first win in the Battle of Grand Lake since 2015.

Parlapiano had a game-high 88 yards on 22 carries for Bath, which hosts Van Wert in the regular-season finale next week.