Cecilia trails by 18 at half in 39-21 loss to Central
– Five turnovers were too much for the Cecilia High Bulldogs to overcome in their 2025 home football opener on Friday, but the Bulldogs went toeto- toe with Class 5A Central before falling 39-21.
Cecilia finished with 387 total yards to Central’s 390 yards. But three interceptions and two fumbles helped the visiting Wildcats (4-0) jump out to a 25-7 halftime lead.
“Obviously Central’s a great team,” Cecilia head coach Cody Champagne said. “We got behind early, which we can’t do. If we play mistake-free football, we might have a game. But we got behind the chains early. I didn’t do a great job of setting our guys up for success.”
Central opened the game with a 15-play scoring drive, capped by quarterback Max Gassiot’s four-yard scoring run with 6:49 left in the first period.
Interceptions ended Cecilia’s first two possessions and the Wildcats added another TD on their third drive, which took 10 plays and spanned the end of the first quarter and start of the second. Brody Knapps scored on a three-yard run with 10:33 left in the half to put the Wildcats up 13-0.
A third interception on Cecilia’s next possession sparked a five-play scoring drive, capped by Gassiot’s three-yard TD run with 7:02 left. The 2-point try failed but Central led 19-0.
After a Cecilia punt, it took only four plays for Central to get to the end zone again, this time on Tristan Rose’s four-yard run with 4:05 left in the half. The 2-point try failed and Central led 25-0.
Cecilia got its offense going on its final possession of the second quarter, marching 70 yards in 12 plays with the aid of two 15-yard penalties against the Wildcats.
Braylon Calais scored on a six-yard run with no time left in the half and Jace Knott kicked the point after to cut the deficit to 25-7 at the break.
The teams swapped turnovers to start the second half with Cecilia fumbling inside the Central 10 before getting the ball back on an interception by Franky Frank.
But Cecilia couldn’t get any points out of the possession and punted, leading to a five-play scoring drive for the Wildcats. Shane Brown’s 23-yard TD run gave Central a 33-7 lead after Dylan Thompson added the 2-point conversion on a reverse pitch with 5:25 left in the third period.
Cecilia marched to the Central 15-yard line on its next possession, which saw Braylon Calais switch to quarterback for much of the drive.
But a fumble with two minutes left in the period turned the ball over yet again, and it wouldn’t be until their next possession that the Bulldogs put together another scoring drive.
This time Calais ran and passed the Dawgs down the field, completing throws of 16 yards to Jermaine Davis Jr. and 23 yards to Jayden Lewis, that one good for the TD, to make it a 33-15 game. Calais also rushed four times for 19 yards on the drive.
Central answered with a four-play scoring drive after recovering an onside kick attempt at the 48. Jacori Platt’s eight-yard quarterback keeper pushed the lead to 39-15 with sevenminutes remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs went 65 yards in only four plays to score the final points, with Calais getting in on a twoyard run with 5:48 to go. The 2-point try failed to make the final score 39-21.
“We mixed it up, put Calais at QB a little bit to get the ball rolling,” Champagne said. “If you look at film, those guys (for Central) on every play you’ve got three seconds to throw the ball because they do some exotic stuff out there (on defense). We had to run the ball a little bit and Calais moving the ball helped a little bit.”
Calais ran for a teamhigh and season-high 106 yards and two TDs on 24 carries, passed for 84 yards and a TD while going 3-for-3 and had three receptions for 58 yards.
Collin Dore completed 13 of 18 pass attempts for 159 yards. Davis had six catches for 88 yards, while Malik Joseph had four catches for 82 yards and Lewis had two catches for 54 yards and the TD.
Gassiot threw for 184 yards and Platt passed for 65 as the Wildcats compiled 249 yards in the air.
The Bulldogs play host to Notre Dame (3-1) on Friday at 7 p.m., the first team Cecilia has faced this year with a loss at the time of its matchup with the ’Dogs.
“I’ll go back to the drawing board and make sure our guys are ready to play next week,” Champagne said. “That’s the whole point of this is to play tough teams and get better, and our guys have got to keep their heads up and try to win some of these games.
“The effort’s there, we’ve just got to clean up everything, because our kids didn’t quit tonight. We’ve just got to clean up the mistakes and finish drives.”
