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# Celaya rewarded West coaches with MVP performance at CHaD East-West NH All-Star Football Game
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/celaya-rewarded-west-coaches-with-mvp-performance-at-chad-east-west-nh-all-star-football-game/
- Published: 2018-07-01T22:00:57.000Z
- Updated: 2018-07-01T22:00:57.000Z
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Fall Sports, All-Star Game, CHaD, East, football, NH High School Sports Insider, West, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Moises Celaya really needed to talk to Eric Brown.

The rosters for the CHaD East-West NH High School All-Star Football Game had been released, and on the West roster, the Hanover High School senior was listed as a tight end and a linebacker.

When the teams gathered in January for orientation and a visit to CHaD, Celaya sought out Brown, the Concord head coach who would lead the West all-stars in the 2018 game.

"I was really confused at first," Celaya said of the roster designation. "I played maybe one down (at Hanover) as a tight end. I was only in for kicking and punting. I went up to him to clear it up, to let him know I was just a kicker."

Brown had selected Celaya to be the team's kicker, and by the end of the West's 24-20 win on Saturday, the decision had more than paid off, as Celaya was named the Bo Dickson Most Valuable Player after the game.

Celaya not only kicked three PATs and a 33-yard field goal, but he averaged 53.8 yards on four punts, putting three of them inside the 20-yard line, with two pining the East inside its own 5\. He also had two touchbacks on kickoffs, helping to keep returners Josh Sibanda (Salem) and Tim Bouchard (St. Thomas) in check throughout the game.

"(Moises) was a big difference maker," Brown said. "That’s why we deferred (the opening kickoff) off the bat. We were hoping to get a three-and-out. Field position was great."

Celaya put the game's opening kickoff through the back of the end zone, giving him a boost of confidence that lasted for the remainder of the day.

"That first kickoff really helps me," he said. "When I can kick that first one through the end zone, I’m a lot more confident throughout the game. I think that really helped. We got some good wind advantage for those punts. As the game went on, I got more confident."

His second punt of the day went out of bounds inside the East 1-yard line, and that field position helped set up the first touchdown of the day, a 35-yard run by Connor Robert that gave the West a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

"He was a big factor (Saturday), putting his punts on the 1- or the 3-(yard line)," West's Andrew Duval (Goffstown) said of Celaya.

As big as the punts were at helping the West win the field position battle, the kickoffs might have been bigger in keeping the ball out of Sibanda's hands.

The Salem graduated show why in the third quarter, when he fielded a kick from Celaya at the 5-yard line and returned it 57 yards to the West 38\. The East looked like it took the lead five plays later, but a touchdown pass from Cody Graham (Portsmouth) to Bouchard was called back on a hold.

"He killed us and he deserved MVP," East coach Craig Kozens said of Celaya. "Sibanda was probably the best back I’ve seen in this game. His speed was the difference at times. The few times they kicked to him, we had good returns."

Celaya, who was voted as a captain for the game by his West teammates, is the first kicker to receive the game's MVP award.

"I was really surprised," he said. "I thought our defense and offense held their own."