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ARLINGTON — The Celina Bobcats shared the Christmas spirit early by swapping touchdowns with the Kilgore Bulldogs.

The Bobcats turned into the Grinch midway through the second quarter, exploding for 32 unanswered points en route to a 55-21 win over Kilgore in the Class 4A Division I state championship game at AT&T Stadium.

“Celina did exactly what we wanted to do,” Kilgore head football coach Clint Fuller said. “They came out and put pressure on us early. [Our] offense came out and played well to start the game, but one mistake led to another. Games like this, it can snowball on you in a hurry. That’s kinda what happened. It wasn’t our best night. Hats off to Celina. They’re a great football team. It just didn’t go our way.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our kids,” Fuller added. “They’re a great group of kids. They’ve been working since last December. History will be able to look back and appreciate the season and time that we’ve had together.”

Celina, which completed a wire-to-wire run atop the Division I standings with the win, finishes the year at 16-0 and captured the school’s ninth state championship — joining the 1974, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2007 teams as title teams.

Kilgore, playing in its third state championship game and first since the 2013 season, ends the season at 13-3. The Bulldogs won it all back in 2004, and lost in the championship game to Carthage back in 2013.

Bowe Bentley, the game’s offensive MVP, completed 9 of 14 passes for 265 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions and also rushed for 68 yards on 12 carries. Colton Rodriguez caught five passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns as the Bobcats rolled up 456 total yards.

Kayson Brooks completed 13 of 26 passes for 120 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the loss for Kilgore. He also rushed for 69 yards on 11 carries. Isaiah Watters rushed for 59 yards and a TD on 12 attempts, and Javon Towns (4 catches, 41 yards) and La’Keyleon Graves (3 catches, 38 yards) hauled in TD passes.

Luke Biagini had nine tackles, half a sack and an interception return for a TD to earn MVP honors on defensive for Celina.

Both teams came out swinging and both scored on their first two possessions.

Celina got the ball to open the contest and needed just four plays and 1:03 off the game clock to take a 7-0 lead when Bentley connected with Ethan Rucker on a 34-yard touchdown pass.

The Bulldogs answered with a methodical, 13-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 4:17 of game clock and was capped by a 12-yard TD run from Watters. Eddie Jimenez booted the PAT, and the score was tied at 7-7 with 6:35 left in the opening quarter.

Brooks completed a 5-yard pass to Watters on third-and-4 and had completions of 9 yards to Jacory Walton and 11 yards to La’Keyleon Graves to go along with an 11-yard run on third-and-8 on the drive.

Celina answered quickly, scoring on a 61-yard pass from Bentley to Rucker with 5:10 to play. The PAT was blocked, however, and Kilgore led 13-7.

This time Kilgore marched 82 yards in 11 plays and used 6:11 of the game clock to take the lead.

Brooks had a 5-yard pass to Graves, a 9-yard run, a 14-yard pass to Jayden Sanders and an 11-yard completion to Walton to keep the chains moving before hitting Towns on a receiver screen for the touchdown from 21-yards out on the first play of the second quarter.

Jimenez knocked in the PAT, and Kilgore led 14-13.

The rest of the half belonged to Celina, which got field goals of 35 and 22 yards from Braden Johnson before making it a 27-14 contest at halftime on a 50-yard pass from Bentley to Rodriguez and a 2-point pass from Bentley to Wyatt Villarreal.

The 27 points allowed in the first half was more than Kilgore had given up in a game since falling to Henderson, 27-24, back on Oct. 24.

The Bobcats put things away quickly in the third quarter, using two long scoring passes, a defensive score, a short run and Bentley’s fifth TD pass of the game to end the competitive portion of the game.

Celina took its first drive of the second half 76 yards in just four plays, the big play being a 63-yard scoring toss from Bentley to Rodriguez to make it 34-14.

Just over a minute later, Biagini made a leaping interception of a Brooks pass and returned it 28 yards for a pick six and a 41-14 lead.

An 8-yard run by Harrison Williams with 3:34 left in the quarter – a TD set up by a Rucker interception – pushed the lead to 47-14, and the Bobcats ended their scoring with a 21-yard TD pass from Bentley to Villarreal at the 1:09 mark of the third for a 55-14 advantage.

Kilgore got back on the board late, driving 75 yards in 10 plays and using a 21-yard TD pass from Brooks to La’Keyleon Graves at the 8:20 mark to make the final 55-21.