By Ed Muniz-Photos by Kathy Jones
Many believe that Defense wins games. The Celtics of Providence Catholic won’t argue that!
Hosting the Lakeland Indians from Indiana, the Celtics were opening their season at Bishop Kaffer Stadium.
The Matt Senffner field has been kind to the Celtics over the years and was once again with the Celtics defeating previously unbeaten Indians of Lake Central from St. John, Indiana, 16-14.
The Celtics used a first quarter interception by Mitchell Voltz to start their offense in Indian territory. The short field worked well to the likings of the Celtics when quarterback Lucas Proudfoot snuck into the endzone after leading his offense to a short and goal. The Celtics led 7-0 after Jake Pilon added the kick-after.
Aggressive defense led by Gavin Hagan kept the visitors scorless and gave the Celtics another scoring chance after a punt.
Driving again, the host were moving the ball down field behind the running of Mason Santiago, Kaden Nickel and the scrambling of Proudfoot the remainder of the first qurater into the second, but the drive fizzled and Lake Central used the stop to their advantage.
The Indians tied the game at 7-7 after Xavier Williams burst to the end zone. With their conversion, the game was even up and remained that way into halftime.
The third stanza began with the Celtics on offense. Again, their groud-game would pay dividends. After pushing to the Indian 5-yard-line, Jamari Tribett broke the tie with a hard-nose, pounding run for the touchdown. Pilon would convert the kick , giving Providence an 14-7 advantage.
Now with the lead, the Celtic defense was ampped up and forced the Indians into a punting situation. Crashing the middle, they managed to block the punt and recovered it at the Indian 30-yard-line. Unfortunately, the Celtics couldnt take advantage of the block heading into the final quarter.
Lake Central managed to complete a long pass to wide receiver to Lamarr Richardson that went down the far sideline and ended in the end zone for their second score of the game . With the conversion-kick, the Indians had caught the Celtics and had the score now even midway in the fourth quarter.
The Indian defense held its own on the ensuing Providence drive and got the ball back to their offense looking to take the lead.
Unable to move the ball downfield and maintain control, the Indians were foced to punt from deep in their territory.
Looking to make a big play, the Celtic defense was heavy on the rush. A bad snapped bounded into the Indian end zone.
The Celtics rushed to recover it but the Lake Central punter got there before them and was smothered for the safety. With the two points added to their talley, Providence now led Lake Central, 16-14.
The Celtics held on to the last tick of the clock and earned their first win of the year for new Head Coach Tyler Plantz.
The Celtics will host 2021 7A State Champions’ Wheaton North on September 2 at home.
