Texas high school football championships continue on Friday with Kilgore and Celina meeting in the UIL 4A Division I state title game. Undefeated Celina is the favorite to complete the dream season, but Kilgore has won nine straight in dominating fashion and is too good to count out. Kilgore has arguably improved every season for six years leading up to what'll be its first state finals appearance since 2013.
After a rare down year (4-8) in 2018, the Bulldogs went 8-3 in 2019, 11-3 with a quarterfinals appearance in 2020, 11-2 with a regional finals appearance in 2021, 10-4 with a round-of-16 appearance in 2022, and 12-2 with a quarterfinals appearance in 2023. Now they're 13-2 and all the way to the biggest game. Kilgore also routed Chapel Hill 30-6 in the quarterfinals after losing nail-biters to Chapel Hill the previous three postseasons in a row.
However, Kilgore will be an underdog against the undefeated Bobcats of Celina. Like Kilgore, Celina has been knocking on the door for a few years without breaking through to the state finals until now, going 34-6 in its previous three campaigns. Celina's last state finals appearance was in 2015 when it fell 22-3 to West Orange-Stark despite entering 16-0.
In that sense, the Bobcats will not be looking for a repeat performance – but they will look to repeat the success they've found 15 times in 15 tries this season. This state final features not only a laundry list of future college football players but also a few national recru.
