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No keeping up with Mr. Smith Carthage offense dominates Celina in final high school game at Texas Stadium
The "Dawgs" didn't, either. Running back Dwight Smith, running behind a dominating offensive line, ran for 270 yards -- including 163 in the second half -- and five touchdowns to lead the Carthage Bulldogs to a 49-37 win over Celina in the Class 3A, Division II, Texas Bowl on Friday night. Smith, a senior, scored on runs of 3, 50, 25, 9 and 89 yards as the Bulldogs finished the year 13-2. Celina, seeking its ninth state championship trophy, finished the season at 12-4. It was Celina's first and only loss in Texas Stadium, in seven tries. "That offensive line -- woooo! -- that's the best offensive line ever," Smith said, after being the first Bulldog to hoist the state championship trophy at midfield. "I feed off them, and they feed off me." And the Bulldogs topped their main course with a nice desert -- four big second-half pass plays from quarterback Si'Darius Blackshire. One of those came as a receiver. "We felt good about what we were doing at halftime," Carthage offensive coordinator Chris Smith said. "We felt like they were unable to take away the things we do best, and that we had a number of things going for us. The only time they stopped us was jitters (opening drive) and the turnover." An unstoppable force In the second half, Celina was unable to stop the Bulldogs at all. Carthage scored a touchdown on each of its second half possessions, save the final play of the game when Blackshire knelt on the ball at 11:03 p.m. Carthage came out smoking to start the third quarter, romping 56 yards in eight plays to take a 21-18 lead, and kill the disappointing taste left from the end of the first half. The key play in the drive was early, on third-and-8, when Blackshire hit tight end Trevor Murphy on a tight cross toward the left hash. The 19-yard gain moved the ball to the Celina 35. Four plays later, center Kendrick Henderson made a fantastic inside seal block. As Smith raced behind and past him, en route to a 25-yard TD, Henderson danced with excitement, never even having to look downfield to see if Smith scored. Celina, paced by jack-of-all-trades senior Troy McCartney, came right back with a seven-play, 68-yard drive to reclaim the lead. McCartney, who finished with 207 yards rushing on 25 attempts, carried the ball four times on the drive, inlcuding a 33-yard burst up the middle on a direct snap. McCartney's 4-yard run gave Celina the lead at 25-21, with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter. Two plays later, Carthage senior Jarvin Robinson made a twisting, falling-backward catch down the right sideline in tight coverage for a 37-yard gain to the Celina 13, despite tight coverage and a pass interference call. Blackshire floated the ball perfectly for Robinson, over the head of Celina's David Arogunmati, giving Robinson the chance to make the spectacular catch. Two plays later, Smith benefitted from a devastating block by left guard Casey O'Bryan, taking the toss nine yards for a 28-25 Bulldog lead. Little things turn against Bobcats For all the good things that happened for them in the first half, they started going bad for the Bobcats. A clipping penalty negated a nice McCartney return to the Celina 38. The Bobcats had to start at their own 10-yard line. Five plays later, after a mysterious officials' timeout, on second-and-6 from the 28, McCartney took a routine handoff over left guard. He was met by a wall of Carthage defenders, but still managed to gain almost 5 yards. Somewhere in the stack-up, the ball came out. Robinson, rushing in behind McCartney from the offense's left side, picked up the football. After a brief discussion, the officials awarded the ball to the Bulldogs at the Celina 33 with 2:35 left in the third. "I knew it was a fumble, because I could see the ball on the ground," Robinson said. "I just reached down and grabbed it. I probably should have picked it up and ran, and scored a touchdown. But I guess it worked out okay." Razzle-dazzle, and some breathing room Facing third-and-7 after Smith had been shut down on consecutive plays, Carthage pulled out a memorable play from the Danny White-era Dallas Cowboys -- the throwback-pass. Blackshire took the snap and fired a bullet to the right numbers for senior Joe Jones, just behind the line of scrimmage. Blackshire back-pedaled toward the left numbers. Jones lofted the ball back across toward Blackshire. Celina's Sawyer Levitt jumped, coming within inches of knocking down Jones' pass. Blackshire reached out and down to grab the ball, just inches from the turf. Four members of the Carthage offensive line were set up perfectly to lead the convoy down the field. Blackshire gained 34 yards before being knocked out at the 1. He scored on a sneak two plays later, giving Carthage a 35-25 lead with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. Celina picked up a first down at the Carthage 44, but a holding penalty, Robinson's near sack of quarterback Cody Worrell -- resulting in Worrell injuring an ankle and staying in the game only one more play -- and a false start penalty forced the Bobcats to punt the ball away. McCartney's punt was downed at the Carthage 4-yard line. It was do-or-die time for the Bobcat defense. A quick death On the seond play, Smith took a toss to the right side. Right tackle Jerod Odom threw the key block. Smith cut back toward the middle and was off to the races on a 89-yard score with 8:00 remaining. "Four of those five guys on that offensive line -- (junior Logan Bradstreet, senior O'Bryan, junior Henderson, junior Cutter Clinton and junior Odom) -- played together last year, and they just dominated the line of scrimmage all year long," Surratt said. "Even in our two losses, I felt like they dominated the line of scrimmage. Coach Smith made some great calls and took advantage of we had going for us." Junior Garrett Stephenson, replacing Worrell, hit four passes to lead Celina on 79-yard scoring drive, cutting the deficit to 42-31 with 4:58 remaining. The score came a 7-yard fade to senior Austin Carey in the right corner of the end zone. The Bobcats were unable to stop Smith from gaining the necessary five yards on third down at the Dawg 40. But Smith, feeling the wares of 25 carries, was held for 4 yards, and then lost 3 yards to set up a third-and-9 at the Carthage 46. After calling timeout, Surratt motioned Robinson, split wide right, to move in closer to the hash. As the ball was snapped, Robinson headed for the middle of the field. Murphy, coming out the tight end on that same right side, ran a short out and turned up the field. Celina's Josh Lavey fell two steps behind Murphy, and quickly tried to retreat when realizing a pass was developing. Blackshire threw a perfect strike to Murphy, just beyond Lavey's reach and into Murphy's hands. Murphy avoided Lavey's ankle tackle at the 20 and raced into the middle end zone -- index finger extended skyward -- for a 49-31 lead with 2:31 remaining. A final bit of history McCartney, who drew special recognition from Carthage players and coaches as the teams shook hands after the game, became the answer to a future trivia question. He became the last high school football player to ever score in Texas Stadium with a 2-yard run with 39 seconds remaining. Celina opened the game's scoring with a 14-play, 68-yard drive that consumed 7:21 off the first quarter clock. However, a Caleb Pope sack of Worrell forced Celina to settle for a 31-yard Alex Juarez field goal and a 3-0 lead. Carthage -- which had the ball only five offensive plays in the opening stanza -- got its initial first down on the second play of the second quarter. Smith's 22-yard burst on third-and-1, followed by a 22-yard Blackshire strike to Gary Nutt, set up Smith's 3-yard run for a 7-3 lead. A Kyle Deaton interception at the Carthage 41 set up the Bulldogs' next drive. On fourth-and-1 at midfield, Surratt wasted no time in deciding to go for the first down. Carthage went unbalanced right, and Blackshire's initial movement was also that way. However, he turned and pitched the ball back left to Smith, who appeared to be trapped as Carey raced right at him for an apparent loss on the play. But Smith juked Carey, who couldn't get a hand near Smith, let alone make the tackle. From that point on, it was clear sailing for Smith on his 50-yard jaunt to a 14-3 lead with 7:01 left in the half. The Bobcats responded with a 65-yard, seven-play scoring drive. McCartney's touchdown, and Stephenson's two-point pass to Charley Waldrep on the swining gate, pulled Celina within 14-11 with 3:30 remaining. Smith picked up 11 yards on the first play of the ensuing possession. On third-and-2 at the Celina 35, Smith took a draw handoff. The hole opened up, and it appeared he might be gone again. However, he ran into one of his linemen. Despite picking up the first down, the delay allowed Lavey to come from behind and strip the ball loose. Jose Reomer's reovery gave the Bobcats the ball at the own 31 with 2:06 remaining. The Bobcats chipped away in small pieces, using 11 plays to get to the Carthage 4 with :04 until half. Facing fourth-and-inches, Celina coach Butch Ford left his offense on the field after a timeout. Worrell rolled right. Running out of room between the numbers and sideline, and with a trio of Carthage defenders in front of him and his primary receiver covered, Worrell wheeled and fired the ball toward the middle of the field, where McCartney was uncovered near the goal post as time expired. Alex Juarez's PAT sent both teams to the lockerroom with Celina leading, 18-14. Play-by-play chart, stats of Texas Stadium finale' |
  
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