Centralia knew going in that South Shelby had a good quarterback in reigning all-conference player Trey Countryman. The Panthers like their quarterback as well.

Following a week Cullen Bennett threw four touchdown passes, he passed for another while finishing with 110 yards on 8-for-13 passing to give Centralia a balanced attack in a 28-12 victory at home against Clarence Cannon Conference foe South Shelby. The Panthers outrushed the Cardinals 270-248 and were led by 181 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries by Kyden Wilkerson and 71 yards on 12 carries by Breylen Whisler.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Centralia (7-1, 5-1 CCC) didn’t stop Countryman, who finished with 177 yards and a touchdown, but contained him as well the Panthers could, intercepting him twice and keeping him at a 55 percent completion percentage.

“(Countryman) does a great job at getting the ball out of his hands and getting them to his playmakers,” Forsee said. “Their receivers are fast and do a good job at blocking on the outside. We put a lot of guys in coverage this week and said, ‘If you’re going to beat us, it’s going to have to be on the ground.’”

Forsee acknowledged South Shelby (5-3, 3-3 CCC) did almost beat Centralia on the ground behind Kendal Hammond’s 174 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. The Cardinals had a 12-7 lead at halftime until Centralia’s offense scored quickly in the second half. Bennett hit Beau Hatton 13 yards for a first down, extended even more by a horse collar tackle penalty before Wilkerson ran in a touchdown from 22 yards out on the fourth play of the drive.

Bennett had two big completions on the next drive as well, finding Logan Rosenfelder for 29 yards and Mattie Robinson for 26 yards. Wilkerson capped off the drive with a one-yard run for a 21-12 Centralia lead after the third quarter.

“I know (110 yards) doesn’t sound like a ton of yards, but they came at crucial times,” Forsee said. “I thought (Bennett) did a great job throwing the ball, sitting in the pocket and going through his progressions and making the right reads. He’s getting more confident throwing the ball, and our receivers are doing a better job even at running routes and coming up with those plays. I was very impressed with our pass game.”

Forsee said his team has done a great job at coming back in games so the third quarter wasn’t too much of a surprise. Centralia has defeated Hallsville and Clark County despite trailing in the first half in both games.

“I was impressed with our kids fighting and tenacity,” Forsee said. “We came from behind, which we’ve down several times this year. It just says a lot about the kids in which we coach and makes it fun.”

Class 2 No. 8 Centralia travels to conference foe and Class 2 No. 9 Macon (7-1, 5-1 CCC), who lost 32-8 at Monroe City in Week 8, on Friday.

Softball

Centralia can’t scratch across runs in 7-0 season-ending loss to Tolton

Centralia has scored runs in any way they can this season but couldn’t find a way for one to touch the plate.

The No. 5 Lady Panthers were shut out for the second team this season in a 7-0 loss to No. 3 Father Tolton on Saturday in the Class 3 District 4 championship game in Centralia. Tolton, the eighth best team in the state according to the latest rankings, recorded its 11th shutout of the year behind seven innings of six strikeouts and six hits from Kate Guinn and two home runs by a couple of freshmen, Montana Strobel and Bella Trim.

Centralia (18-14) committed five errors that allowed six unearned runs to score against Kaelyn Walters, who allowed nine hits and two walks in six innings while striking out four. Senior Autumn Hawkins picked up two hits, and seniors Jozelynn Bostick and Jaelyn Vega each had a single in their final game as a Lady Panther.

Among the other issues were Centralia’s seven runners left on base. Head coach Liz Bostick said that the fact the Lady Panthers haven’t been shut out since an 11-0 loss to Blair Oaks on Aug. 30 says much about the fight of her team. On Saturday, Tolton (25-11) was better at finding ways to get outs, whether they be early in the inning or limiting the amount of productive outs Centralia had.

“This team has been great at working together and capitalizing when we get baserunners on,” Bostick said. “We put them on, and we just couldn’t scrape them across. We had several times second and third, but a lot of times, that was already with two outs. They were good enough at getting outs early to not allow us to get some momentum.”

Centralia had two runners on base in the third and fourth innings only to come up empty. Jozelynn Bostick sacrifice bunted two to second and third base in the third inning only for Guinn to notch a strikeout. Two runners reached for Madi Johnson in the fourth inning before she sent a hard-hit ball straight to the third baseman for the easy forceout at third and then another strikeout ended the inning.

Bostick mentioned that Jozelynn Bostick almost had a hit in the first inning — a line drive to the center fielder Sadie Sexauer that was caught and turned into a double play to get Hawkins at first base. From there, she said Tolton head coach Taylor Bartlett proved how well he knows her team from coaching them during summer softball league.

Guinn had a lead to work with early after Strobel hit a home run on a 3-2 pitch. Left fielder Olivia Adams saved a run by diving to catch a sinking laser hit by Strobel in the second inning, but then the outfield defense struggled from there by being responsible for three of Centralia’s errors.

Strobel went out there with her next rocket in the fourth inning that was misplayed and allowed a run to score for a 2-0 game. Guinn then hit a ball that flew over the outfield after another miscue to allow two to score on the play. Later in the inning, Trim hit a two-RBI home run on a 3-2 pitch for a 6-0 lead.

“I think it’s just composure,” Bostick said. “When you get to these playoff games, and they matter so much to these kids, they’re hearts in it and they don’t want to make the mistake so they play tense. When we play tense, we make mistakes that we shouldn’t normally make. That’s what it was. This mattered to them.”

Bostick said she had good feelings about this year’s team halfway through the season even if her players didn’t. Centralia started building more confidence when they kept playing competitive games against state-caliber opponents (currently or previously state-ranked). The Lady Panthers lost nine of 13 of those games heading into the district tournament but were hardly ever out of a game that they lost.

Centralia had two more state-caliber teams to go through before even making it to eighth-ranked Tolton as the Lady Panthers knocked off No. 4 seed Southern Boone on Wednesday and then No. 1 Hallsville, who they lost to twice previously this season.

Walters pitched about 159 of the 192 innings by Centralia pitching this season. She shouldered more of a load after senior Makenzi Adkisson went down with a season-ending injury Sept. 29 at Clark County. Still, Walters rose to the challenge at the right time against some of the toughest competition, posting a 1.09 ERA in her previous five games in which four came against state-caliber teams and owning a 3.39 ERA for the year.

“I think she did a great job,” Bostick said. “She’s very composed . (There were) errors in the outfield and she stayed calm and collected. The ball wasn’t breaking quite what it typically does. When we played Hallsville, it was spot on and that is somewhat fatigue. I’ve had to throw her because I don’t have many other pitchers.”

The Lady Panthers had “to fight and to claw” through this season and their tournament bracket, Bostick said, so she is proud that they were good enough to earn second place.

“Our schedule’s tough, but that’s why we can play this,” Bostick said. “That’s why we can come out and compete when we get to this. Overall, my seniors have been great leaders, and all my kids, there has been a bond. We’ve formed that bond, and that team has worked for each other at the end of this season.”