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Celina's Zander Jones is tackled by two Tippecanoe defenders.
SIDNEY - Celina's magical season continues.
The Bulldogs jumped on Tippecanoe early and held on for a 27-13 victory Friday night at Sidney Memorial Stadium, punching their ticket to the Division III Elite Eight and a regional final showdown with top-seeded Hamilton Badin (13-0), which rallied with two fourth quarter touchdowns to knock off Wapakoneta 14-10 in Greenville. The location for the regional final will be announced Sunday.
Celina (11-2) raced out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, and opened the second half with a statement scoring drive to keep the Red Devils playing at least two scores behind.
"We came out of the gate swinging and jumped on them early, got a good lead and the momentum," Celina coach Brennen Bader said. "Second quarter, they got some of that back, but we finished strong, were up two scores going into the half, and then we came out in the second half and did the same thing. We went right down and scored."
Braylon Gabes, who lined up at quarterback most of the night, capped the Bulldogs' first scoring drive, sweeping untouched around the left end from 18 yards out with 7:20 left in the first quarter.
Tippecanoe's second possession ended as its first did, with a punt. However, the second time around proved disastrous for the Red Devils. Kade Teel's punt never seemed to get airborne and was blocked at the point of attack.
Carter Altstaetter picked up the loose ball and rumbled 25 yards for a touchdown. Zach Greber's second PAT kick put the Dogs up 14-0 with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
Celina's Carver Harris tackles Tippecanoe running back Cael Liette on Friday.
Tippecanoe battled back with some clutch passing on its next possession. Quarterback Peyton Schultz converted a third-and-11 with a 34-yard completion to Jackson Davis. Schultz then converted two fourth downs, including a seven-yard touchdown pass to Davis with 20 seconds left in the first quarter.
Celina regained a two-score advantage on a hard-nosed 30-yard touchdown run by Gabes at the 5:20 mark of the second quarter.
Tipp threatened again with a drive late in the half, again converting a fourth down in the red zone, but Celina recovered a fumble at its own 10-yard line and went to the locker room with a 20-6 lead.
Backed up by a holding penalty on the second half kickoff, Celina marched 85 yards in 10 plays, consuming nearly six minutes off the clock. Jon Lutz scored on a 10-yard run and Greber added the kick for a 27-6 lead.
Celina's Jon Lutz runs in for a touchdown against Tippecanoe in the Division III regional semifinals in Sidney on Friday.
The Devils stormed back, again with come key third down completions, including a 24-yard TD pass from Schultz to Maddox Sivon on third-and 16.
"When you play a really good team, they're going to make things happen like that," Bader said. "We didn't get off the field a couple times when we had them in fourth-and-long and third-and long a couple times."
The fourth quarter was a different story. Celina's defense forced Tippecanoe to turn the ball over on downs three times in the final 12 minutes, including twice inside the Bulldog 20.
"In the fourth quarter we just gritted it out," Bader said. "We had some self-inflicted wounds that we have to clean up, but the defense responded a couple times when they had to on a short field, and offense secured the win in the end."
Gabes finished with 131 yards on 24 carries to lead the Celina offense. The Bulldogs limited Tippecanoe to 73 yards on the ground.
"Our number one goal in any football game is to stop the running game," Bader said. "They had a couple really good backs, and I thought we kept them in check for the most part."
