Mexico misses help Centralia gain distance in 27-0 shutout

Centralia gained some distance from Mexico on Friday night in a rematch from Week 1 last season.

Centralia vs Mexico Photo Gallery

Mexico missed opportunities and tackles in a 27-0 shutout loss at the Panthers, turning over the ball three times and allowing 183 yards and three touchdown passes by Cullen Bennett. Centralia amassed 301 yards on offense, including 61 yards on nine carries by Jesse Caballero, and Mexico ran for 198 yards out of its 208 yards.

Centralia head coach Tyler Forsee said the two 60-yard touchdowns by the Panthers helped out the offense that struggled to get going in the first half. Bennett found Cayden Dunn on a short pass that went 61 yards on Centralia’s first play from scrimmage and then Beau Hatton turned a short lob into a 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter for a 14-0 halftime advantage.

“We take a quick screen, took it to the house and things were riding high,” Forsee said. “We kind of stalled out for a while. The first game is always tough. The bullets never fly as fast in practice as they do on gameday so it takes a little adjusting.”

Mexico hurt itself with three lost fumbles as two of them turned into Centralia touchdowns, including the Hatton long-distance trek down the sideline and an eight-yard run by Drayden Conde to make it 20-0 in the third quarter.

Hatton, Rex Bryson and Ian Tuggle had fumble recoveries and were part of a defense that stalled Mexico’s offense more in the second half.

“They were hurting us to the tight end side so we were trying to get another body to that side,” Forsee said. “They were doing a good job running that play and were doing an outside-zone type of play.”

Mexico marched the ball into Centralia territory four times in the first half but couldn’t come away with any points. The Panthers’ offense shook off a feast-or-famine first half with a long drive in the third quarter only to turn the ball over, but Centralia took the ball right back with its third fumble recovery prior to the Conde touchdown.

“People don’t understand how big that is,” Forsee said. “You have a turnover and everybody’s down in the dumps, but then you get one right back. They bailed us out a bit because they were moving the ball pretty well.”

Centralia (1-0) plays at Hallsville (1-0), who won 46-6 at Palmyra last week.

Read a more complete recap of the game in the Mexico roundup.

Lady Panthers shut out Macon 8-0

Centralia started its conference schedule in a dominant way.

The Lady Panthers followed its weekend second-place tournament finish with an 8-0 victory at Macon in their Clarence Cannon Conference opener. Macon was limited to five hits by Kaelyn Walters as she struck out seven in seven innings.

Kassena Ridgel led the offense by going 2-for-4 with three RBI and began the scoring in the second inning with a RBI groundout. The four-run inning was capped with a Madi Johnson RBI triple.

Tilly Fox finished 3-for-4, and Jade Lawson had a RBI.

Centralia played its home opener against Blair Oaks on Tuesday before going to Battle with Columbia Independent for a 5 p.m. Thursday game.

Centralia softball falls Friday, storms back to second place on Saturday in Greater KC tournament

Based on Friday’s results, Centralia softball didn’t seem on its way to hardware.

The Lady Panthers bounced back from a 0-2 start on Friday in the Greater Kansas City Suburban Varsity Softball Invitational in Independence to finish second in the bronze bracket, thanks mainly to scoring 26 runs in their first two Saturday games. Centralia lost its final tournament game 5-2 against reigning district champion Oak Grove.

Temperatures were scorching on Friday as Centralia was shutout 8-0 by Lee’s Summit and then 14-2 by Smithville. The Lady Panthers had five errors and three hits against Lee’s Summit and then four errors and three hits against Smithville, with Jaylynn Brown plating both runs for Centralia by going 2-for-2 with a double.

On Saturday, the offense cut loose with a 15-0 win against Lafayette on eight hits. The Nos. 1-3 hitters in the lineup — Kaelyn Walters, Madi Johnson and Ellie Page — combined to go 5-for-9 with six RBI as Johnson was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double. Walters also had a double and combined with Jaylynn Brown in the circle to record three innings of one-hit ball and seven strikeouts. The Lady Panthers scored 12 runs in the second inning to put the game out of reach.

Their 11-2 victory against St. Michael the Archangel was a gradual blowout as the Lady Panthers scored in every inning. Centralia finished with five extra-base hits in the game, including a solo home run by Walters in the sixth inning and a two-run bomb by Johnson in the first inning. Jade Lawson and Olivia Adams each picked up an RBI triple in the game, which was Adams’ second three-bagger of the day. 

The Lady Panthers just couldn’t catch up to Oak Grove after the first inning. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the first frame but could only bring one run across and then finished the game with four hits. Walters had one earned run allowed on three hits in five innings of work along with a 4-for-14 performance in the tournament with four runs and three RBI, and Johnson went 7-for-14 with six runs and five RBI during the weekend.

Volleyball

Centralia won 25-23, 25-19 and 25-8 at Tipton on Monday. The Lady Panthers hosted Fulton on Tuesday and then Eldon at 7 p.m. Thursday.