Central Theme: Wildcats Turn State-Title Game into Rout of Ruston for School’s First Title in 58 Years

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

NEW ORLEANS – Central won its first state championship in 58 years against one of the state’s foremost powers, playing with a running clock for nearly the last eight minutes.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats were that dominant, defeating third-seeded Ruston 42-0 in a Division I non-select contest that was essentially cemented by halftime in the final game Saturday of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Prep Classic at the Caesars Superdome.

“I’m certainly surprised,” Central second-year coach David Simoneaux Jr. said. “A ton of respect for (Ruston) coach (Jerrod) Baugh and (defensive coordinator) coach (Kyle) Williams and the type of program that they run. 

“I look at what they do, and we try to emulate a lot of the things they do inside of their program,” Simoneaux said. “We knew it was going to be a war. It was going to be a fistfight. We’re certainly proud and excited we were able to pull away and do the damage we did early. Yes, (I’m) surprised.”

Central (13-1) concluded the season on a six-game winning streak and delivered the school’s second state championship. The Wildcats were the Class 2A champions in 1966 and for Simoneaux, who brought his third different school to a state championship game, it was his second career title.

“It’s incredible,” said Simoneaux, 22-5 at Central and whom he guided to the state quarterfinals in 2023. “I wanted to build something from the ground up. I had no idea it was going to happen this fast, and we were going to have the right people around us to be able to do those things. 

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling these guys were able to buy in and believe in everything we were doing,” Simoneaux said. “I feel like I’m a small part of it. These guys did all the heavy lifting.”

Central also achieved a few other milestones along the way of the first state title in the Prep Classic era.

The Wildcats’ margin of victory was the greatest in a Division I/Class 5A state championship game – surpassing Acadiana’s 36-point differential over Parkway (77-41) in 2013. 

They also became the second team in the history of Class 5A/Division I to shut out an opponent in the state final with West Monroe taking a 30-0 win over Rummel in 2009.

Moreover, Central established a class record for limiting Ruston to 90 total yards, including 60 on the ground on 19 attempts.

“Everybody had us as the underdogs, that the d-line was going to be pushed around, and they were going to run through us,” Central defensive end DK Mays, a Houston signee. “When we played Neville, they had over 200 rushing yards and we took that to practice. We put that as a chip on our shoulder. We proved today that we could stop the run.”

Central’s Most Outstanding Player, quarterback Jackson Firmin, completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards with five touchdowns and an interception. He also added 30 rushing yards on seven attempts.

“It’s an awesome feeling. I’ve never felt anything like this,” Firmin said.

Central built a 35-0 lead at halftime, scoring twice in the first four minutes of the game, and didn’t look back.

“For whatever reason or another I didn’t get our guys ready to play and I’ll take full responsibility for that,” Baugh said. “That’s what my job is and somewhere or another that fell through the cracks.”

Central, which had 317 total yards, invoked the running clock with 7:53 remaining when Firmin found Keithon Womack for a second touchdown – a 15-yarder on third-and-two.

Firmin’s fifth TD of the game capped Central’s second 15-play drive of the game. The Wildcats covered 81 yards in 9:13 – further adding to their dominance in time of possession (33:20-14:40).

After missing the team’s semifinal win at Neville, Womack returned to lead the Wildcats with six catches for 113 yards and two TDs, while Kylen Thomas had four grabs for 33 yards and a score.

Ruston (11-3) was the reigning state champion and attempted to move into fifth place all-time with its 10th state title. The Bearcats, who had a five-game winning snapped, were making their 14th appearance in a state final.

“I think the camel’s back got broken a couple of times,” Baugh said. “I don’t really know where the turning point was, but we never got in sync. A lot of it’s due that Central’s a really good football team. They do some things up front of the defensive line that messes up some blocking schemes. We just never got settled in.”

Everything Central touched, turned to gold in the first half and the Wildcats led 35-0 after Firmin’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Tyrann Williams with 12 seconds left before halftime.

Central scored touchdowns of five of six possessions with the other series resulting in a missed field goal late in the first quarter.

“We’ve been on the flip side of that throughout the playoffs,” Baugh said. “We know how fast it can snowball on you when that happens. You just can’t give that up that early in a ballgame and get behind.”

Firmin threw a pair of long touchdown passes to Womack of 59 yards for a 7-0 lead, and his 40-yarder to UL-Lafayette signee Steven Ranel made it 28-0 with 3:26 left before halftime.

“I know I had to make something happen and when I scored, it was crazy,” Womack said. “I knew I had to score at least one time my first game back. It was just amazing that I scored.”

Central’s defense also got into the scoring act when Mays picked up a fumble by Ruston quarterback Josh Brantley and returned it 18 yards two plays after Womack’s first touchdown to make it 14-0 just less than four minutes into the game.

That was the first of four turnovers the Wildcats forced with Mason Moore coming up with an interception and fumble. Marvin Joseph also picked off Brantley, a Tulane signee, who was 3 of 14 for 30 yards.

“It was crazy,” Mays said. “All season long I was planning to have one, but I didn’t. All the other d-linemen had one. It was a shock. I saw the ball, I scooped it and scored, and I was like dang. It was crazy. It happened so fast.”

Brantley topped Ruston with 51 yards rushing on seven carries.

Central showed it could drive and take off a huge chunk of the clock and also produce points in the two-minute drill.
The Wildcats put together a marathon 15-play drive to cover 69 yards and bridged the end of the first quarter with the start of the second.

They took advantage of four defensive penalties that resulted in two first downs and Firmin’s 5-yard completion to Thomas in the middle of the field on fourth-and-three wound up for a key first down at Ruston’s 29-yard line. 

An encroachment penalty moved Central closer five yards, and on third-and-five, Firmin rolled left and found Thomas on a 4-yard score with 4:34 left.

A 28-yard punt return from Ranel set up the Wildcats at the Bearcats’ 38 with 1:38 to go and no timeouts.
 
No problem.

Central converted a third-and-11 on a 27-yard completion from Firmin to Thomas, and three plays later, Firmin found a sliding Williams, who had inside position against Ruston’s defensive back for a drive that took less than a 1 ½ minute.

“Our goal for us was to play our best football in Week 15,” Simoneaux said, “and I think we did that.”