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Destruction in Denton: Celina crushes Dallas Madison 51-20 in area round
By Townsend Keller, Special to the Record
DENTON — Celina (10-2) continued to carve a path of obliteration through the playoffs as they cruised to a 51-20 victory over Dallas Madison (5-6) in Denton’s Bronco Stadium.
Celina got cooking early with sophomore quarterback Nathan Elliott hitting senior wideout Ben Thiel on a 29-yard bomb to the end zone. It appeared that the game would get out of hand early, but after the initial sizzle to start the game, Celina’s passing game simmered down as Elliott couldn’t seem to nail down his timing and completed only one other pass in the first quarter.
“We hit the big touchdown to Ben [Thiel] early and then come back and had a couple of miscues there,” said Bill Elliott, Celina head coach. “I don’t know what was going on, we’ll have to look on film and see what was happening there.”
However, the Trojans struck back, with Derrick Smith hauling a 16-yard pass from quarterback Randall Johnson to put Madison only a score behind Celina.
But in what would be the theme of the night, the Celina special teams took over. After senior lineman Jake Raulerson blocked the Madison extra point attempt, junior corner Braylin Brown took the ball 83 yards the other way to instead give Celina two points.
“Well I knew something had to be done, something had to be done quick,” Brown said. “Big players make big plays, I wanted to change the game around. We started off the first half not that good, I just asked God to give me the power and our team the power to get this stuff done.”
“That put a spark on, it’s really big. After that kick we kept it going. That’s all we needed was a good spark.”
Brown’s play fueled a 23-point quarter for the Bobcats. After Thiel took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to the Madison 3-yard line, Elliott finished the job with a 1-yard sneak. Brown then struck again on special teams, recovering an onside kick that Elliott turned into a 3-yard scoring pass to Davis.
“Huge,” coach Elliott said of his special team’s performance. “Those are big plays, those are game-changing plays. You do those kind of things to keep them off-balance. [Special teams coach Troy] Davis did a great job with those guys.”
The Bobcats then ended the half with a little flair, with sophomore halfback Connor Torbert hitting Elliott on a 24-yard halfback pass.
“We were just trying to do those things different and come after them,” Elliott said. “Give some people some things to look at down the road, just open up a little.”
The second half started off badly for Madison as Brown, who also recorded two interceptions, continued to impose his will on special teams by recovering a muffed Trojan kickoff return. After Elliott and Thiel connected again on an 18-yard strike, it seemed the rout was officially on.
Thiel grabbed four passes for 66 yards and two scores while Elliott ended his night 9-of-20 for 105 yards and three passing touchdowns.
But Madison would find moderate success through the air as Smith pulled down a 20-yard touchdown pass from Johnson with one hand. Smith ended his night catching six passes for 114 yards and two scores. The success the Trojans found in intermediate routes didn’t overly concern coach Elliott.
“I think it’s just the speed they had, we were playing off them a little bit,” he said. “We’ll work on that this next week. Just trying to defeat their speed down the field, trying to get back behind those receivers.”
After senior halfback Willie Sims closed out Celina’s scoring with a 24-yard scamper to the end zone, Johnson found Trey Gardner on a 13-yard scoring throw to bring the final score to 51-20.
Celina now prepares to face the winner of Henderson and Quinlan Ford, who play on Saturday at 2 P.M. Celina will play the victor next Friday in the regional round from Mesquite Hanby Stadium at 7:30 P.M.
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