Fabian Celestine sent the Tiger Stadium crowd into a frenzy. A short time later, Brayden Fontenot did the same.
Two Hahnville seniors came through with critical plays when their team needed it most in Friday night’s opening round.
Celestine’s 48-yard touchdown run with 2:51 remaining in the fourth quarter proved the winning points and Fontenot’s interception with one minute left sealed the victory as Hahnville advanced to Round 2 of the Division I non-select state playoffs, defeating visiting Sam Houston 21-14 in an intense, hard-fought battle.
Celestine’s touchdown run was a blend of power, speed and determination. He took the handoff and carried right – once he got to the edge, he broke the first of what was multiple broken tackles, surging into the endzone to put Hahnville (8-3) ahead by a touchdown.
“I had to get something going,” Celestine said. “I got it to the outside and made a guy miss, and got the touchdown … it was an amazing feeling. I’ve been looking forward to this moment, and I’m finally here. That was my first really big moment in a playoff game – I’m still feeling it.”
No. 7 Hahnville will host No. 10 Thibodaux next week in Round 2. Thibodaux defeated Ouachita Parish, 34-21, to advance.
Hahnville head football coach Greg Boyne said his team was prepared for a moment like this after playing several high-level contenders this season. Hahnville began the season with back to back one-score losses to 2025 Superdome teams Shaw and St. Charles Catholic. Later in the season, Hahnville was the team that came out on top in one-score games with East St. John and Thibodaux – and Friday night saw another such win.
“Besides Terrebonne last year, I don’t know that we’ve seen a team as big as them,” said Boyne. “That’s one of the best coached offensive lines, and they have the size to go with it and they have the big back. You have to be willing to tackle for 48 minutes and we were.
“We played the schedule we played to get ready for games like this. To not quit when we get down and to show grit. And our guys did a phenomenal job.”
Celestine and quarterback Landen Teague combined for three rushing scores, Teague supplying the first two, and Celestine the game-winner.
“They’ve been doing this for their whole career,” Boyne said of the two seniors. “Eventually I’ll have to coach a game without them, but I’m not in a rush to do it, because that’s what they do. When we need it, they make plays. And the same with our defense. When we need a big play, we got an interception in the redzone, and then the pick at the end of the game. When we needed big plays, they made the big play.”
After Celestine’s score, Sam Houston (4-7) had one last chance. The Tigers momentarily believed they secured a fourth down stop, but the celebration was cut short quickly when a HHS was flagged, giving the Broncos another set of downs.
But Hahnville forced another fourth down attempt, this time near midfield with just over one minute left to play. Sam Houston quarterback Brody Anderson’s deep pass attempt was intercepted by Fontenot – and now, the celebration was on, as the Tigers were able to go into victory formation from there.
“We made a lot of adjustments throughout. We just kept playing and we stayed together … at the end, they threw it up, coach had me in position and I just made a play on it,” Fontenot said.
Fontenot and Celestine each said Hahnville knew Sam Houston was a dangerous lower seed.
“They’re way better than the record says and we knew it going in. We played well, started a little slow but we stayed together and we’ve had plenty of games like that so far,” said Fontenot.
The Tigers, the No. 7 seed in Division I non-select, knew a win wouldn’t come easy. The 26th seeded Broncos played upper echelon competition all year – their district, 3-5A, includes St. Thomas More, Acadiana, Barbe, Sulphur, Lafayette and Southside among its ranks – a Notre Dame committed offensive lineman in Albert Simien and a Penn State committed tight end in Clayton Powell.
Sam Houston leans on its running game – and the first quarter put that on full display. The Broncos controlled the ball for almost the entirely of the opening quarter, marching on a drive that took 11 minutes and 30 seconds and that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run on an Anderson keeper.
The Broncos nearly doubled that lead on its next possession, driving deep into Hahnville territory. Sophomore defensive back Jerod Grant came up big for the Tigers, diving to intercept a pass in the endzone to end the threat. The 7-0 Sam Houston lead held into halftime.
Hahnville got the ball to begin the second half and made good on it. Landen Teague took off from the Sam Houston 27-yard line and ran through contact to surge into the endzone, tying the game 7-7 early in the third quarter.
Markeithon Simon’s 47-yard rushing touchdown put Sam Houston back ahead 14-7 on the ensuing possession. That followed a conversion on third and long from Anderson to Hudson Anderson.
Hahnville answered. Teague found Jackson Porter downfield on a play-action pass, and Porter did some work after the catch in the secondary to set up another Teague rushing score, tying the game late in the third quarter.
The Tigers got a big stop early in the fourth quarter when Beaux Woods chased down a scrambling Anderson in the backfield on third down, forcing Sam Houston to kick it away.
The teams traded punts on the next two possessions before Celestine found running room and popped loose for the big play the Tigers were looking for.
