If Woodlawn quarterback Ricky Mitchell hadn’t already had Central’s attention, the junior managed to do so with a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes for a five-point lead.

Central responded accordingly, though, with a stretch of six unanswered touchdowns over a 15-minute stretch, with quarterback Max Gassiott accounting for five of those scores in a 67-18 victory Friday over Woodlawn in the District 4-5A finale for both teams.

“Our motto we’ve been preaching: ‘Don’t let this team get hot’,” Central coach David Simoneaux said. “We’ve taken our lumps. We’re battled tested. They’ve kept their discipline and maturity about them. It’s time to go do something special on the road. We’re excited about it.”

Central (5-4, 2-2 4-5A) entered the game with an unofficial power rating of No. 21 in Division I nonselect and expects to begin next week’s playoffs away from home. The Wildcats finished with a two-game winning streak, outscoring their opposition 128-18. 

Mitchell, armed with impressive numbers — 2,105 yards and 24 TDs — threw touchdown passes of 31 and 61 yards to Jordan Knox for a 12-7 lead with 3:07 to go in the first quarter.

Gassiott gave Central the lead back for good at 13-12 with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Green in the back of the end zone.

The Wildcats scored 27 straight points in the second quarter to open a 40-12 halftime lead when Gassiott, a Nicholls State commitment, threw all three of his touchdowns over a 13-minute span. After the score to Green, the senior connected with Marcus Watson on scores of 25 and 15 yards, with the latter taking place on the final play of the half. 

“The momentum from that touchdown (to Green) led to the defense playing great and giving us great field position,” said Gassiott, who accounted for 273 yards and four touchdowns. 

Gassiott rushed for his second touchdown, a 9-yard score after Marvin Joseph’s interception, to give Central its 34th consecutive point to a 47-12 advantage when the combination of Mitchell-to-Knox worked again on a 29-yard score.

Woodlawn (5-5, 1-2) was led by Mitchell’s 10-of-22 passing for 164 yards with three interceptions and three TDs, all of which went to Knox, who caught eight passes for 181 yards. Wide receiver Omar Morehouse added 54 yards on four receptions. 

The Wildcats, who also had interceptions from Malik Nixon and Camden Rankin, held the Panthers to 164 total yards with minus-46 rushing.

Gassiott, who went over 2,000 yards (2,019) for the season, completed 10 of 19 passes for 184 yards with Rice wide receiver commitment Brody Diel making four grabs for 75 yards. Running back Tristan Rose was another key player in Central’s offense with 13 carries for 73 yards and three touchdowns.

“We just kind of settled in,” Simoneaux said. “Offensively we just played lights out. I thought we played well up front, along with the receivers. Max continued having a great year orchestrating this offense.”