Centralia takes down conference rival, state-ranked Monroe City 27-24

Centralia had to sweat it out a little in the fourth quarter, but it finally toppled its rival Monroe City on Friday.

The Class 3 No. 5 Panthers defeated Clarence Cannon Conference foe and Class 2 No. 9 Monroe City 27-24 on the road following losing by several possessions in each of the previous two meetings. Centralia thwarted potentially two scoring drives by Monroe City in the fourth quarter to only concede a safety and hang on to victory.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Monroe City (3-2, 1-2 CCC) is tough to beat if it is allowed to run the ball at will and possess the ball for long periods of time. Centralia (5-0, 3-0 CCC). had to make sure that wasn’t as much of the story in the second half as Monroe City still finished with 259 yards rushing.

“It was a fast half just because they ran the ball and hogged the ball,” Forsee said. “It really ran the clock down. I don’t know how many possessions we got that first half but not too dang many. We had to start sending a little bit more heat and blitzes to get some guys going. We were sitting and trying to react and that was a disservice to our kids.”

Forsee returning to Centralia’s base defense allowed his players to fly around more, helping Centralia to stop Monroe City from scoring on two drives late in the game, even after the Panthers lost a fumble to give Monroe City an extra possession. Ashton Price led with 13 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery, Rex Bryson had eight tackles, and Ian Tuggle and Jameson Cooper each had seven tackles, with Tuggle having a tackle for loss. Wyatt Bryson and Cayden Dunn each recovered a fumble.

The events made the fourth quarter a “rocky” and “back-and-forth” period even though only two points were scored in the 12 minutes. Forsee said quarterback Cullen Bennett didn’t have the biggest numbers game, totaling 97 passing yards and 46 rushing yards, but made plays when he needed to for two rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown. Bennett finished with 8-for-13 passing and began the game 8-for-8 on his attempts.

“He ran tough and his passes were on the money,” Forsee said. “He made big plays when we needed him to. He’s been very clutch all season long. We’ll go as far as he’ll take us.”

Jesse Caballero ran for 83 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Forsee said Anthony Ford converted on 3-of-4 on PATs and is 11-for-13 in the previous three games.

Centralia moves on to another tough conference opponent in Clark County (4-1, 2-1 CCC), who lost its first conference game 44-14 at home to Class 2 No. 7 South Shelby last week. The Panthers are happy they came out of last week with a win against a tough rival.

“Monroe City’s always a big rivalry,” Forsee said. “It’s always going to be a hard-hitting game.”

Holiman medals for Centralia at Gans Creek Classic, boys finish sixth

Centralia had its biggest and toughest field on Saturday in Columbia.

The Panthers ran at the site of the cross country state championships at the Gans Creek Classic. Rohan Holiman was 20th out of 293 runners in the blue division to earn a medal, and the boys finished sixth out of 34 schools in the blue division while the girls were 26th out of 36 teams in the blue division.

Holiman ran a time of 17:09, Dryst Bostick followed in 37th with a 17:45, Eli Hill was 46th with a 17:56 and Carter Moss was 55th with a 18:05. The Panthers had 291 points, and Class 5 Glendale won with 106 points.

Kenedee Moss was the best girls finisher for Centralia as she was 39th out of 271 runners with a time of 21:33. Shelby Lewis followed in 58th with a 22:10, and Rylee Palmer was 136th with a 23:48. The Lady Panthers had 647 points, and Class 4 St. Joseph’s Academy won with 103 points.

Lady Panthers shut out South Shelby to stay perfect in conference

Centralia earned its third shutout of the season, but its first in the Clarence Cannon Conference on Monday.

The Lady Panthers defeated South Shelby 15-0 in four innings to move to 5-0, tallying 13 hits.

Centralia(12-7) took an 8-0 lead after two innings to support Kaelyn Walters’ four innings of four hits, four strikeouts and two walks. 

Cora King went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double, Ellie Page finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, Kaylie Ensor went 1-for-1 with two RBI and two walks, and Kassena Ridgel finished 2-for-4 with a RBI.

Centralia hosts conference foe Clark County (4-13, 0-4 CCC) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Centralia closes Warrensburg tournament with win before abrupt end

There was a lot of traveling and waiting for Centralia softball last weekend.

The Lady Panthers played three games as part of the Jennies High School Softball Tournament hosted by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. They lost 9-7 to Pleasant Hill and 4-3 in five innings to Belton in pool play on Friday before closing the tournament with a 9-2 victory against Harrisonville in bracket play on Saturday. Weather caused the rest of the games to be canceled.

Centralia (12-7) had to deal with a three-hour rain delay, waited one and half hours between games and had a quick travel turnaround between Day 1 and Day 2 but still finished with 25 hits through three games. When it came to standout hitting performances, Madi Johnson finished 3-for-4 with two RBI against Pleasant Hill and was 4-for-4 with two RBI against Harrisonville, Tilly Fox was 4-for-4 with four runs scored and two stolen bases against Pleasant Hill.

The Lady Panthers chipped away at Pleasant Hill but couldn’t overcome nine runs allowed in the first four innings. Cora King had two RBI and one of five Centralia doubles.

Against Belton, Centralia had a 3-2 lead until allowing two runs in the fifth inning on a walk and wild pitch. Kaylie Ensor had a RBI, and Kaelyn Walters and Jaylynn Brown combined fornine strikeouts, four hits and four walks.

Gradually, the Lady Panthers took the lead against Harrisonville until icing the game with four runs in the final two innings. Kassena Ridgel went 3-for-4 with a RBI, Bailey Schuering had a RBI and Ensor finished with two RBI. Walters covered 5⅓ innings with three hits and four strikeouts before Brown allowed one hit and struck out four.