It sounded cliché when Central coach David Simoneaux said the goal for his team was to play its best game of the year in Week 15.

What the fourth-seeded Wildcats did was not cliché.

It was total dominance manifested in a 42-0 victory over defending champion Ruston in the Division I nonselect title game concluded the LHSAA Prep Classic Saturday night at the Caesars Superdome.

“Our skill set matches the hunger of the community, and these kids work so hard,” Simoneaux said. “I thank God to be in a situation like this … to be around such great guys. These wins will last for a long time, but these relationships will last forever.”

The record-setting day the Wildcats (13-1) won’t soon forgotten. Central held third-seeded Ruston (11-3), a team with a 1,700-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher, to just 90 yards of offense, setting a Division I/5A Prep Classic record.

It is the first LHSAA football title for Central in 58 years. The school was Class 2A then.

A week after Central had struggled to move the ball in a semifinal win over top-seeded Neville, the offense led by quarterback Jackson Firmin put up 317 yards.

Firmin, a Nicholls State signee, completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards and five touchdowns. A 59-yard TD pass from Firmin to Keithon Womack set the tone just over three minutes into the game.

Womack missed the semifinal game with a concussion. He finished title game six catches for 113 yards and two TDs.

“This was the first time all year that all our original starters were able to play,” Firmin said. “You could see the impact it made. Everybody did great … our receivers, our offensive line, our running backs and our defense. We knew it was possible.”

Tulane signee Joshua Brantley led Ruston with 51 rushing yards and had 30 yards passing. He completed just 3 of 14 passes and was intercepted twice as the defensive coordinator Anthony Camp’s players seem to stay a step ahead.

“For whatever reason, I did not get our guys ready to play,” Ruston coach Jerrod Baugh said. “I’ll take responsibility for that. I don’t want that to downplay what we these guys did this season. I don’t really know what the turning point was, but we never got in sync offensively.”

Central raced out to a 35-0 halftime lead and held the Bearcats to 31 first-half yards, including just three passing yards. Central rolled up 195 offensive yards highlighted by clock-consuming 67-yard drive that took 9 minutes, 24 seconds off the clock. Another nine-minute drive followed in the second half.

Ruston’s Brantley ran for nine yards on the game’s first scrimmage play. Central stopped two running plays for no gain to force a punt. Two plays later, the Wildcats had a 7-0 lead on a 59-yard scoring pass to Womack. And two scrimmage plays after that, Central led 14-0.

Brantley fumbled a snap and defensive lineman DK Mays, a Houston signee, returned it 18 yards to give CHS a two TD lead with 8:08 still left in the first quarter. Mason Moore intercepted a Brantley pass less than two minutes later. The Wildcats’ Nathan Zimmer missed a 35-yard field goal, but there was much more to come.

The first 15-play scoring drive was aided by five defensive penalties on Ruston that accounted for 39 yards. The drive ended with a five-yard scoring pass from Firmin to Kylen Thomas that made it 21-0 with 4:34 remaining in the half. After another Ruston punt, Firmin went for a quick strike – a 40-yard TD pass to UL signee Steven Ranel. Thay made it 28-0 with 3:26 left before halftime.

Central got another short with 1:38 on the clock. A 14-yard TD pass to Tyrann Williams made it 35-0 with 12 seconds before halftime. The Central score – a 15-yard pass from Firmin to Womack – made it 42-0 in the fourth quarter and triggered a running clock via LHSAA rules for the remainder of the game.

“When coach came here he told this program would do things that had never been done here before,” DK Mays said “Look what happened today.”