The Panthers had their backs against the wall early at Hallsville on Friday.
Class 2 No. 6 Centralia fell behind its rival 13-0 and was tied at 28 in the fourth quarter before winning 36-28. The …
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The Panthers had their backs against the wall early at Hallsville on Friday.
Class 2 No. 6 Centralia fell behind its rival 13-0 and was tied at 28 in the fourth quarter before winning 36-28. The Panthers rushed for 263 yards, including 153 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries from Ethan Ross.
Head coach Tyler Forsee said early mistakes meant a less than ideal start. Hallsville scored on its opening drive and then scored again after Centralia (2-0) fumbled its first snap.
“Our backs were against the wall,” Forsee said. “They did a good job of staying cool with a next play mentality.”
After seeing film of Hallsville (0-2) in Week 1 and in a preseason jamboree, Forsee said he expected passing from the Indians and mostly saw that with 236 yards in the air. Centralia didn’t expect Hallsville to run the ball much early like it did.
Louis Suddarth led with nine tackles and two tackles for loss. Brady Schultz followed with seven tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack, and Luke Waltemate, Chris Brown and Oliver Bohlmeyer each had six tackles.
“We had to claw our way back,” Forsee said. “We had to change some things defensively. We had a pretty light box. We had three defensive lineman, one linebacker and a couple guys playing off the edge a little bit. We were playing hard against the pass because we thought that’s what they were doing. We changed our front and put a little more guys in the box.”
Forsee said this evolving approach slowed Hallsville down despite the Indians coming through some big plays through the air. A 71-yard touchdown tied the game at 28 in the fourth quarter before Rex Bryson, who had 37 yards and two touchdowns, scored the game-winning touchdown to cap a three-minute drive.
Centralia preaches the importance of each player filling his roles for team success, and Forsee said this usually is demonstrated with acts such as blocking. A pack of Panthers pushed their teammate along before the end of the first half. Ross ran for 25 yards but needed his teammates to push him along the final 10 yards.
“He got escorted down by the team,” Forsee said. “Everybody was pushing and driving.”
Centralia plays its Homecoming game against Clarence Cannon Conference foe Clark County (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.
