Not Rusty

CELINA - Based on the first play Richfield Revere ran, it looked like Celina was in for a shootout.

Then Celina's offense answered, and the defense shut down the Minutemen.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 34-10 halftime lead, and then got a fourth quarter score to trigger the running clock in winning their Division III football playoff opener 41-10 at Celina Stadium.

Celina (10-1), the top seed in Region 10, now hosts Western Buckeye League rival Wapakoneta, which held on for a 14-12 win over Padua Franciscan, next Friday night in the regional semifinals. Celina won the regular season meeting 7-6.

The Bulldogs had a week off that goes to the top four teams in each region. Head coach Brennen Bader felt that any rust from the break shook off quickly.

"We kept last week pretty normal. We cut practices a little bit short, but our routine pretty much stayed the same," said Bader. "Obviously we weren't really prepping for necessarily an opponent, but we were doing a lot of the same things. I thought our kids did a good job, and we had a good two weeks of practice."

The game started off quickly for Revere as Lane Shenigo took the opening carry untouched up the middle and rambled 83 yards for a touchdown 18 seconds into the game. Celina, though, was up for the challenge, needing just three plays before Jett Warner took the quarterback keeper 44 yards for the score. A missed PAT by Bridon Jeffries kept the Minutemen in front 7-6.

After the opening burst, the Celina defense got fine-tuned into stopping the 6-0, 230-pound junior. Take away the 83-yard score and a later 37-yard burst, and the Bulldog defense held Shenigo to 28 yards.

"You don't want to start a playoff game that way," said Bader. "Our kids, after that responded real well. We just made a couple little adjustments. I thought our guys did a good job, pretty much the whole night defensively of making them earn it."

Revere went on a sustained drive on its next touch of the ball, going 67 yards on 11 plays, but on a fourth-and-3 from the Celina 13, the Bulldogs stood strong and limited Liam Drvenkar to a yard to get the ball back. Celina moved the ball with a mix of running and a quickly-warmed passing game. Getting down to the Revere 20, Warner found Brodee Schulte-Arnold for a 20-yard score with 1:42 remaining in the first quarter to give Celina a 13-7 lead.

After Revere had to punt, Celina needed four plays to add another score. A 35-yard strike from Warner to Schulte-Arnold put the Bulldogs at the Revere 15. Two plays later, Noah Talmadge punched in from seven yards out to make it 20-7 with 9:53 to play in the half.  

The Minutemen punted on their next drive, and a blindside block penalty put Celina at their 40. A Warner to Trey Anderson pass went for 12 yards, then after Talmadge got seven yards, Warner was picked off. The interception was a brief delay as Revere had to punt the ball away again. Talmadge wrapped up a six-play drive with a two-yard run in to make it 27-7. After another Minutemen punt, Warner connected with Schulte-Arnold for a 29-yard scoring pass to make it 34-7. The Patriots got three points back in the final seconds on David Kennedy's 32-yard field goal to make it 34-10 at the half.

The second half was a defensive stalemate for the most part. Revere's best chance to dent the scoreboard came on its first drive of the second half as the Minutemen got inside the 10 before two false starts put them at fourth-and-13 from the 19. This time, Eli Talmadge broke up the pass near the end zone to end the drive.

Celina finally reached the running clock with 9 1/2 minutes to play in the game when Noah Talmadge got his third touchdown of the night on a two-yard burst to make it 41-10 after the PAT from Jeffries, giving the kicker a bit of revenge after his soccer team lost to Revere on Wednesday in the regional semifinals.

Warner, who earned first team All-WBL honors earlier this week, was 12-of-19 for 204 yards and two scores to go with 116 yards rushing. Noah Talmadge had 65 yards. Schulte-Arnold had five catches for 102 points.

Now Celina prepares for a rematch at home with the Redskins.

"It should be a great atmosphere. We're just happy with another opportunity to play again, and hopefully we make the most of it," said Bader.