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Out of state: Bobcats head north for Perryton game
BY Chris O’Dell, codell@starlocalnews.com
The Bobcats hit the road this week for a non-district matchup against Perryton (2-2).
Celina (3-1) will make the trip north for a meeting in Yukon, Okla., in a mutual site agreed upon by both teams. Yukon is approximately 203 miles from Celina and 220 away from Perryton.
“We were trying to find a place to play and the Oklahoma City area is close to halfway for both of us,” said Bill Elliott, Celina head coach.
“It’ll be like a playoff game,” he said. “You’re playing someone you’ve never played before and it’ll make it tough on both teams, not knowing how each team runs things.”
The Bobcats are coming off a 32-15 victory over Texas Liberty-Eylau last week that featured another dominant defensive performance.
“The defense is playing great,” Elliott said. “There are still phases of the game we can improve on and that we can get a lot better at, but the defense has done really well for us.”
Celina surrendered less than 200 yards of total offense for the second time this season, while also racking up five takeaways. That dominance allowed the team’s offense to coast in the first half, eventually building a 19-0 lead after two quarters.
“Getting teams down early is always good,” Elliott said. “It makes things a lot easier for us.”
Celina’s first score came courtesy of a 1-yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback Nathan Elliott.
The short run would be the only scoring either team did in the first quarter. Junior running back Connor Torbert made it a two-touchdown lead at the 5:40 mark of the second after punching it in from 3 yards away. Elliott then hooked up with senior receiver Ben Thiel for a 5-yard touchdown pass only two minutes later that allowed the Bobcats to carry a 19-0 lead into the locker room.
“We felt really good with how we played,” coach Elliott said. “[Eylau] has some tremendous athletes and we did a good job of containing them.”
Running back Davion Hall got Eylau on the board midway through the third after breaking free for a 52-yard touchdown run.
It would be the only score Celina surrendered until early in the fourth.
“We tried to get some of the younger guys in there later in the game,” coach Elliott said. “They still have some things they need to work on and improve.”
Celina’s second-half scoring consisted of a pair of short touchdown runs from Torbert that gave the junior 99 yards and three scores on 19 carries. Elliott finished his night with 210 yards, two touchdowns (one rushing and one passing) and no interceptions after completing 18-of-28 pass attempts.
“[Elliott] has thrown the ball well,” coach Elliott said. “His decision-making has been good and all of our kids are coming along right now.”
Celina’s offensive attack featured balance once again in the ground and passing games, tallying 170 yards in the former and 210 in the latter.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” coach Elliott said. “We felt like we did a good job with balance [Friday against Eylau].”
The victory was Celina’s third straight after dropping a season-opening contest to Melissa. The Bobcats will look to make it four consecutive victories when they travel to Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. Friday to face Perryton.
“We need to solidify our offense and defense and get things moving before district,” coach Elliott said. “We’ve been starting to mesh the last few weeks.”
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