Centralia has weapons in its passing game. They just haven’t had a big presence until Friday night.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said it’s no fault of their own as the Panthers’ running game has been strong – including in their 42-6 homecoming victory against Clarence Cannon Conference foe Highland when they ran for 224 yards – but the passing game took a step forward with quarterback Cullen Bennett throwing four touchdown passes to four difference receivers.

Bennett finished with 194 yards on 10-for-14 passing, completing a 52-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Caballero, an eight-yard strike to Ethan Adams, an 80-yard score to Beau Hatton, and a 16-yard trip to the end zone for Cayden Dunn. Kyden Wilkerson added 108 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries.

“We got a pass game going, and that was nice,” Forsee said. “It’s nice to get that pass game going because I knew it was something we could do – we did well on our seven-on-seven – but we were able to run the ball so well earlier in the year, that we got away from our passing game a little bit.”

Centralia started the season 4-0, rushing for more than 200 yards in each of those games. Bennett set a season-high of eight completions last week at Clark County before topping that number this week. The 194 passing yards are another season-high.

Forsee said Centralia had that long touchdown to Caballero in the first quarter but felt the offense started slow initially. The Panthers clicked when assistant coach Ben Sontheimer made some adjustments.

“He did a good job of simplifying a few things,” Forsee said. “We were able to speed up a little bit, and get our guys that can run the ball and let them do their thing.”

Having Bennett at quarterback makes it easier to involve more players in the offense, Forsee said, because of the skillset he brings to the position.

“He throws a very catchable pass,” Forsee said. “He throws with really good touch. His reads need a little bit of work, as probably any quarterback in the nation does, but he’s getting better every week. That’s important as we come down the stretch toward the end of the season – that he’s getting more confident in what he can do.”

Forsee said he was concerned with a few Highland players, like receiver Devin Stutsman, and the Cougars (1-6, 0-5 CCC) did score a 54-yard touchdown with Stutsman in the fourth quarter. Other than that, Centralia defense held Highland to 290 yards of total offense and held them to several three-and-out drives.

“We tackled well tonight, and that’s kind of what we hang our hat on,” Forsee said. “We’re not real big. We got good-size defensive linemen, but after that, we’re really pretty small in about all the positions. But we’re pretty athletic, and we run well. Our kids did a good job swarming the football.”

Having multiple facets going well will be important when Centralia (6-1, 4-1 CCC) hosts South Shelby (5-2, 3-2 CCC) on Friday. Forsee said the Panthers should focus on the Cardinals’ passing game and quarterback Trey Countryman, who he said had 26-for-31 passing against Brookfield earlier this season.

“Their passing game is very good. I mean, very good.” Forsee said. “I’m hoping we can get after them and get things moving.”

Girls golf

Centralia’s Pace, Stephens going to state in Class 2

Centralia’s Tess Stephens and Bailey Pace will be heading to state for the second straight year but still will achieve a career first.

On Friday at Heritage Hills Golf Course in Moberly, Stephens finished fifth with a score of 85, or 15-over par, and Pace shot a 95, or 12-over par, to take 10th. It is the first time each of them will be representing Centralia at the Class 2 state tournament after competing in the Class 1 tournament last season. Pace qualified as an individual for the second time while Stephens qualified as an individual for the first time after going with the district runner-up team last year.

The Lady Panthers were seventh as a team this season, after compiling a team score of 433. School of the Osage and Kirksville took the top two spots with respective scores of 354 and 370. School of the Osage’s Sophia Ann Rivera-Sindlinger was the state champion after shooting a 74, or four-over par.

Kyla Spickert was Centralia’s next best finisher in 39th place after shooting a 115, or 45-over par, and the last state spot was taken by Palmyra’s Ava Weiman with a score of 102, or 32-over par. Jace Brown had a 138, or 68-over par, and Olivia Morris shot a 152, or 82-over par.

Stephens and Pace compete in the Class 2 State Tournament on Oct. 17-18 at Silo Ridge Golf and Country Club in Bolivar.

Volleyball

Centralia earns several sweeps, takes third in Belle

After a five-set thriller at home Oct. 3 against Mexico, Centralia went back to sweeping teams.

At home, the Lady Panthers defeated Montgomery County in three sets (25-18, 25-21 and 26-24) on Oct. 4 before defeating Russellville on Thursday in three sets (25-21, 25-23 and 25-21). Centralia took third place Saturday in the Belle Tournament after losing 25-21, 25-16 to Russellville and sweeping Dixon by winning both sets 25-18, North Callaway (25-18, 25-6) and Plato.

Centralia (13-8) lost in straight sets at Capital City (10-11-1) on Monday, with Morgan Ross leading with six kills and Harper Forshee following with five kills, before hosting district foe Kirksville (6-18-1) on Tuesday and competing in the Eugene Volleyball Invitational on Saturday.

The Lady Panthers learned last week they would get a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed in the Class 3 District 7 Tournament to be played in Hallsville. They will face the winner of No. 3 Mexico and No. 6 Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Oct. 24, defeating both teams in the previous meetings with them this season.

Softball

Pitching, defense battle in Bowling Green lost by Centralia in extras

Through seven innings Monday in Bowling Green, Centralia and the Class 3 No. 9 Lady Bobcats combined for two runs, seven hits and one error.

Centralia was the one that blinked as Bowling Green walked off in the eighth inning to win 2-1 after the Lady Panthers committed two errors prior to allow the winning run to score. Meredith Wright picked up an RBI on a groundout in the third inning for the 1-0 Centralia lead that was maintained until Bowling Green scored in the seventh inning.

Jozelynn Bostick had a single and a stolen base that helped set the Wright groundout, Ellie Page had a single and Tilly Fox legged out a triple. Kaelyn Walters matched Bowling Green pitch-for-pitch, striking out five, allowing a run on four hits and not surrendering a walk in her first outing of more than four innings this year.

Bowling Green’s Megan Graver struck out nine and allowed one hit in five relief innings after Sydney Charlton allowed one run on two hits and struck out two in three innings.

From the bottom of the third inning to the bottom of the seventh inning, every single batter was sent back to the dugout outside of Fox’s triple and Grace Deters’ double for Bowling Green (19-9). The Lady Bobcats scored a run in the seventh after loading the bases with nobody out but failed to win it then after Fox threw out the runner trying to score on a flyout.

Madi Johnson started the eighth in the circle, walking the first batter and having two straight errors committed behind her to end the game.

Centralia finishes the regular season 16-13 and focuses on its first-round Class 3 District 4 Tournament game at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Centralia against No. 4 seed Southern Boone (15-10) as the No. 5 seed.