CELINA – Friday night Celina knocked off rival St. Marys for the first time since 2015 as they outscored their blue and gold counterparts 23-8 in the second half on the way to a 37-15 victory.
Bulldog junior running back Jon Lutz (12 rushes, 112 yards), and senior wide receiver turned wildcat qb Braylon Gabes (13 carries, 120 yards, 3 touchdowns) led the hosts to out rush their guests 303-266 on the evening with Gabes scoring three times on the ground and tossing a pass for six points.
St. Marys opened with the football but were forced into a three and out punt. On their first possession of the evening the Bulldogs marched 65 yards in over four minutes down the field where Gabes opened the scoring with a four yard jaunt to put Celina on top 7-0.
One play 80 yards is all the Roughriders needed to even up the score on their ensuing drive thanks to junior Colton Mabry (12 rushes, 119 yards, 2 touchdowns) who raced his way through the opponent secondary with 5:51 remaining in the opening period.
Celina pushed themselves back into a lead they wouldn’t surrender again thanks to a long drive and repeated changes behind center that saw Bobby Morris, Braylon Gabes and others make appearances to attempt to confuse the St. Marys defense.
14 plays for 92 yards over 9:05 from late in the first quarter to early in the second led the Bulldogs to 14-7 on the Celina Stadium scoreboard as Braylon Gabes utilized a pop pass over the top of a draw in defense to Nick Newell from five yards out.
Leading 14-7 at the half and opening the third stanza with the football the Bulldogs again moved quickly up the field but were stopped on third down and forced to settle for a 27-yard field goal from kicker Zach Greber to take a 17-7 advantage.
Three straight drives in the game with touchdowns by both teams kicked off with a Bulldog trip to paydirt after a Rider turnover on downs to run the lead to 24-7 on Braylon Gabes four yard scamper.
St. Marys pulled within 24-15 on their own five yard score, the second of the night for Colton Mabry and added a two-point conversion run from Mabry with 10:10 remaining in the contest.
Using just three plays after starting from midfield after a St. Marys onside kick was deemed to have been touched before it went 10 yards the Bulldogs pushed their score lead to 31-15 on an 11-yard rumble by Gabes.
Following a St. Marys lost fumble the green and white hammered the final nail of the game into the Riders coffin on a play-action pass by Bobby Morris to a wide open Zander Jones but were unsuccessful on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt.
Quarterback Cody Wallace hooked up with wideout Carter Steinberg for a first down moments later but was picked off on his next attempt by Jon Lutz to secure the 37-15 Bulldog victory after a trio of kneel downs from the victory formation.
Celina’s last 30+ point output against their rivals came in the 2012 meeting which featured a two-hour weather delay and a 47-7 Bulldog victory.
The Bulldogs (1-1, 1-0) will travel to Eggerss Stadium in Van Wert to battle the high octane Cougars offense that defeated Bath 64-42 this week.
St. Marys (0-2, 0-1) starts with a pair of losses to open a season for the first time since they dropped a pair of decisions to Sidney and Shawnee to kick off the 2013 season that saw the team finish 0-10 under Greg Phillips.
Next week the Riders will return home for the only time in the first five weeks of the season for a Friday night 7pm kickoff against 2-0 Defiance.