The Cecilia Bulldogs took a quick early lead over Carencro, courtesy of two special teams plays, and then kept its foot on the gas to lock up a home playoff game and a share of the District 5-4A title on Friday at home.

Mason Baltazar recovered the opening kickoff at the Bears' 23 to set up an Aiden Landry field goal, and the Bulldogs blocked a punt on Carencro's first possession that culminated in a Deondre Briscoe touchdown in the 51-22 win.

"It could have been faster if we hadn't dropped a couple of balls," Bulldogs coach Cody Champagne said. "The kids fought. We had a lot of mistakes. We got the result we wanted."

Cecilia (7-3, 4-1), which is projected to host No. 17 South Lafourche in the Division II non-select bi-district playoffs next week, stormed to a 24-0 lead on the 11-yard run by Briscoe and 23 and 62-yard passes from Layne Champagne to Braylon Calais.

"They're starting to get on the same page," coach Champagne said of Calais and his QB. "Layne became a quarterback tonight. He made some throws in the pocket that he hadn't done all year."

After Carencro (5-5. 4-1) got on the scoreboard on Carson Gurzi's 15-yard pass to Roland Bruno for a 24-7 halftime margin, Champagne came out of the break firing with a third TD pass to Calais with 8:30 to go in the third quarter.

"Like I tell everybody, it's a blessing because they (Calais and Ashton Ruffin) make me so much better than I am," said Champagne, who passed for over 300 yards and tossed a four-yard pass to Ruffin for a 37-15 lead early in the fourth.

Calais caught 10 of Champagne's 15 completions for 235 yards. The four-star LSU commit lined up to punt in the fourth quarter but kept the ball and ran around the right side for a first down.

"Braylon is that type of kid," Champagne said. "Look, these seniors have been through a lot in this program. I told them today their legacy is not done yet, and it starts tonight."

Late in the first half, Carencro stopped the Bulldogs twice at the one-yard line. In the second half, Cecilia was turned away again in the red zone.

"Obviously, there were a lot of mistakes," Champagne said. "I didn't like the two goal-line stands they had. We have to clean that up."

The Bears cut it to a two-possession lead on a four-yard run by Da'Marion Green with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. Green finished with a hard-earned 51 yards. 

"We can polish some things up, but overall a good team win," said Briscoe (11 carries, 95 yards).

When Green added a 15-yard run to make it 37-22, Briscoe responded with a 43-yard run, and defensive back James Ross returned an interception 35 yards for the final touchdown.

Briscoe played a good bit of defense, which gave Chase Narcisse the opportunity to get some carries at running back.

"It's always good to get a district trophy, but right now we have bigger goals in the future," Briscoe said. "It will be great to have a home playoff game next week."

The senior added that the offense is finding its groove.

"This is the passing game we've been needing," he said. "Now we're starting to unlock everything."

The Bulldogs shared the district title with Carencro and Opelousas.