Celina takes down Jackson County 26-6 in championship game

By KEVIN DONALDSON

Horizon Contributor

WESTMORELAND-The Celina K-8 junior high football team wrapped up another standout season and second conference championship in a row by defeating Jackson County 26-6 here in the title game last Thursday.

It was the eighth win of the season for the Junior Dawgs, who combined an explosive offense with a stingy defense to lose only a single game this season.  That loss came against the Cumberland Valley Conference (CVC) upper-division runner-up Westmoreland, who lost 40-32 in their title game against Gordonsville. 

K-8 coach Marty Maxfield said he thought his team played a bit tight in the first half against Jackson County, but turned up the heat defensively after intermission.   

“Going into the game, we knew Jackson County would want to play power football, and control the tempo,” Maxfield said.  “We made a few adjustments to our defense after our first meeting, and our defense did a great job of taking away what they wanted to do.

“I felt like in the first half we were playing tight. At halftime we made our adjustments, and we started to play more loose,” Maxfield said.  “We put together a nine-play scoring drive to start the second half that really helped us to settle into the game. Our defensive intensity went to the next level, and we started playing our style of football.

“Jackson County is a very physical team, and very well coached,” Maxfield said. “Coach Loftis does a great job at both levels of having his teams well prepared, and they had a good season.” 

CHAMPIONSHIP 

Celina………..…..26

Jackson Co…..…..6

The Bulldogs beat their border-county rivals for the second time in less than two weeks to take the title, using their customary fast start and a strong second-half defensive effort to take the win. 

Celina won the pre-game toss and elected to let the Blue Devils have the ball first and the strategy worked perfectly.  K-8’s Jayce Keen and Maysun Johnson combined on a third-down sack to force a Jackson County punt. 

Kamron King fielded the punt at the Celina 48 and raced 52 yards for a score.  The conversion failed and the Dawgs led 6-0 at the 5:12 mark of the first period. 

Celina pulled off a successful onside kick, with Johnathan Nagy recovering for the Bulldogs near midfield.  King broke a 20-yard run to move the ball to the Westmoreland 27. 

From there, CVC overall most valuable player Matthew Duke took it in for the second Celina touchdown to make it 12-0.  The conversion try failed again. 

The game got tighter in the second quarter.  The teams swapped punts late in the first period and early in the second. Jackson County took over at the Celina 47 after that exchange and moved for what wound up being their only score of the game. 

The Blue Devils overcame a tackle for loss by Celina’s Johnson to score on a five-play drive, with the touchdown coming on a 23-yard run.  The Jackson County conversion try failed, making it 12-6 with 3:25 left in the quarter. 

The Bulldogs made a frantic effort to score with the clock running down, starting at their own 44-yard line.  They moved the ball all the way down to the Jackson County 12 before the drive stalled. King had a 24-yard run around right end, and Zaxtyn York rambled up the middle for 13 yards during the drive.

York also caught an eight-yard pass from King, and Johnson made receptions of five and six yards as the Dawgs moved the ball down the field.  A fourth-down stop by the Blue Devils ended the drive as time ran out. 

Second half effort 

secures Dawg win 

The Bulldogs received the second-half kickoff and launched a sustained drive that gave them some breathing room. 

King had another big run on the drive, but Celina used nine plays to take up most of the third period and move their lead back to two scores. 

York ran for four yards on first down, and King broke a 22-yarder on second down to move the ball to the Jackson County 23.  The Blue Devil defense stiffened and the Bulldogs faced a fourth and two at the 15.  Behind a nice push by the Dawg offensive line, King pounded for seven yards on a quarterback sneak to keep the drive alive. 

Duke ran for seven yards up the middle on first down, and two plays later Brogan Maxfield drove it in for the TD to make it 18-6.  The two-point conversion try wound up being moved out to the 13-yard line on a pair of penalties against Celina.  King almost scored from there on the conversion, but came up just short. 

The Dawgs attempted another onside kick, but Jackson County recovered on the Celina 48.  The Bulldogs held on downs, forcing a fourth-down incompletion and they took over on their own 44. 

From there, they moved the ball for the score that clinched the championship.  Duke ran for seven, 12 and 12 yards on the drive, sandwiched around an 11-yard run by York.  From the Jackson County 14, Maxfield ran for six yards, and Duke bulled for three yards to set up a third and one from the Blue Devil five-yard line. 

Maxfield scored his second touchdown of the contest on the next play, and added the Bulldogs’ first conversion of the game to make it 26-6 with 3:02 left in the game. 

Isaac Dawson made a big hit on the ensuing kickoff and two plays later, Conner Combs recovered a fumble for Celina to seal the win.  The second-team offense ran out the clock and the Bulldogs had their second CVC title in a row.

See next week’s HORIZON for a final look at the Jr. Dawgs’ second-straight conference title.