The Centreville Bulldogs made their first trip to Ford Field on Friday morning for the Division 8 state championship against Ubly.
It was a low-scoring first half until senior quarterback Sam Todd hit junior wide receiver Tyler Swanwick for a 34-yard gain deep into Ubly territory.
The drive would be capped off with a one-yard touchdown run by Todd before a successful two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Bulldogs in the second quarter.
Minutes later, with just three seconds left in the opening half, Todd went deep to Swanwick again, who made an unbelievable catch in the endzone for the 20-yard score.
Tyler Swanwick is having a day!
— FOX 17 Blitz (@FOX17Blitz) January 22, 2021
The junior’s 2nd TD reception extend the Bulldogs lead to 22-0, 4:07 3rd. pic.twitter.com/OI4sCXXo4i
The Bulldogs would take a 16-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, the Centreville defense stood tall once again before Todd found who other than Swanwick again for a 12-yard touchdown score to give the Bulldogs a 22-0 lead with 4:07 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Ubly would look to get on the board with a pass to the endzone which was intercepted by Tristan McElroy to help preserve the team's seventh shutout of the season in just ten games, 22-0 the final.
1st football state title in school history! pic.twitter.com/lysSQEJivx
— FOX 17 Blitz (@FOX17Blitz) January 22, 2021
The Bulldogs cap the historic season with their first-ever state championship.
"I know all year I could go up on those guys and get the ball," Swanwick said after the game, "I had confidence in myself and they had confidence in me, we did that today."
Centreville's offense has been run-heavy all season long. In fact, Swanwick entered the state finals with just three receptions on the season before four catches for 97 yards and two scores in the championship.
"I was saying on the sidelines to the boys, I was like 'they're just saving me for the big game, that's all they're doing,'" he joked.
Senior quarterback Sam Todd would finish 6-for-7 passing for 130 yards and two touchdowns while adding 71 yards rushing and a score on 19 carries.
"No disrespect to other teams we play but we were able to run the ball on most of them," Todd added, "we didn't have to break out these kinds of plays, we just knew Swanwick is a special kid."
And Todd isn't worried about the future of the program with someone like Swanwick returning.
"He's going to be the star of this team next year," Todd said.
The Bulldogs held Ubly to just 134 total yards and owned the time of possession by over eleven minutes.
