Ka’Von Tiger was the one to pounce on Friday night.

Centralia vs Moberly District Photo Gallery

The Centralia Panthers struggled to catch the Moberly running back as Tiger ran for 299 yards and four of his five touchdowns on 14 carries to end Centralia’s season with a 41-28 loss in the Class 3 District 4 semifinals in Moberly. The Spartans had Tiger do most of the heavy lifting on the ground but had a rushing attack that put together 435 yards and six runs of at least 20 yards to put the Panthers at a quick disadvantage on defense.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Tiger is tough to handle in the backfield, but the way Moberly runs its offense provides him and the other running backs opportunities for big gains. On Moberly’s first touchdown drive, for instance, it lasted only two plays after Gage St. Clair ran for 43 yards and then Tiger scored the touchdown on a 22-yard scamper.

“They run a tough offense where you have to be uber-disciplined,” Forsee said. “You have to have a guy in every gap. They did a good job blocking up front, to be honest with you. The misdirection and the blocking angles help them, with a lot of guys coming from the sides. So you have to stay flat, and you’ve got to be disciplined.”

Moberly took a 13-12 lead at halftime following Centralia’s only lead at 12-6 when Jesse Caballero ran 75 yards — of his 110 yards on 13 carries — for a touchdown in the second quarter. Caballero broke a tackle then broke loose down the right sideline on the drive’s first play from scrimmage to give the Panthers the advantage and a polar-opposite drive from the first one that lasted 17 plays — capped by a 15-yard float touchdown pass from senior quarterback Cullen Bennett to Mattie Robinson.

Caballero and the other Panther running backs struggled to gain much of anything on the ground after that big play. In contrast, Moberly was able to keep drives alive with big runs and kept the Centralia defense “on its heels,” Forsee said. The Panthers had a defense this season that averaged 18.6 points allowed to follow last year’s mark of below 20 points per game, but Moberly’s defense has been even better at 14.5 points per game.

“They are very solid on defense,” Forsee said. “I didn’t think they had too many weak spots when I was watching film. They didn’t have any weak links. We thought we could run the ball a little bit on them in between the tackles, and they did a good job of shutting that down.”

Bennett took some shots down the field that weren’t hit most of the time, whether because of an off-target pass or a dropped pass, but threw for 107 yards on 11-for-20 passing. The Panthers had several of them against Moberly, making the possibility of coming back even tougher. Pretty soon, Moberly scored 28 unanswered points for a 34-12 lead in the fourth quarter, with Tiger pounding in his third rushing touchdown.

Centralia did show some life on offense in the following drive that was capped by a three-yard keeper by Bennett. Before that, senior Beau Hatton took a long way around the Moberly defense for a 51-yard gain on a reverse play. Hatton also led the defense with nine tackles and a sack, Emery Mast had nine tackles and a tackle for loss, Elliott McCoy followed with seven tackles and two tackles for loss, and Rex Bryson had seven tackles and a tackle for loss.

“It seems like we should have done it a little earlier in the year and a little more often,” Forsee said. “That’s Beau Hatton being Beau Hatton. I was proud of him.”

Bennett left a few more good plays on the field in what was his final performance, including a scramble that turned into a successful two-point pass to Cabellero to add onto Bennett's rushing touchdown. Robinson caught one more pass in the endzone — this time for two points —- after Bennett hit the lanky Logan Rosenfelder on a jump ball in the front left corner of the end zone for 25 yards.

Centralia had another season where it spent much of the year as a ranked team in Class 3, going into districts as the fifth-ranked team in Class 3. The Panthers finish with a 9-2 record for their most wins in four years and fifth straight winning season. Forsee took some time after the game with all the seniors circled around him to share his gratitude and appreciation to them.

“I’m proud of how the seniors led and represented themselves and the program,” Forsee said. “It is the best group of kids I probably coached, to be honest with you.”