Lady Panthers drop final three sets to lose district title in four to Fulton

The Lady Panthers might have been in their own heads too much on Monday.

Centralia vs Fulton District Title Match Photo Gallery

Still, they shouldn’t think any less of themselves or what they’ve meant to Centralia volleyball after a four-set loss (25-20, 25-27, 18-25 and 19-25) in the Class 3 District 7 tournament title match in Fulton to the host Lady Hornets. Centralia is losing seven seniors that collected three second-place district finishes, and the best three-year run in the 18-year history of the program by going 52-29, including the top two best season records of 20-8 two years ago and 18-7 this year.

Head coach Julie Crum said the Lady Panthers appeared to have a formidable attack in the first set and most of the second set, which was reminiscent of what they showed in their five-set semifinal victory on Thursday against Boonvill. They then lost six of the final seven points to lose the second set after necessary extra points were played and then had unforced errors pile up in the third and fourth sets.

“I don’t know where their confidence went after playing the way they played against Boonville, especially after going down in two sets (in third and fourth) and then winning by seven points in that fifth set. That’s guts, that’s grit, and that’s determination,” Crum said. “They didn’t find that (Monday night). We had girls that were second-guessing balls and were lacking confidence. No. 1, above everything, was there was no communication.”

Crum said Centralia had difficulties reading and anticipating the situation, leading to some awkward finishes on balls that didn’t make it over the net. Fulton built advantages in the second and third set after the unforced errors kept hurting the Lady Panthers, with the double-hit being called several times.

Centralia did have to make a big adjustment to its team recently, Crum said, as senior primary setter Lexi Cook went down in the semifinals with a knee injury that kept her unavailable for the championship match. Cook finished with 446 assists this season and a program career record of 906 assists. While junior Caris Finlay stepped in well in the final four sets in the semifinals and stayed active all around the court for Centralia on Monday, Crum said that adjustment could have still affected the Lady Panthers.

“Sometimes, we only had two hitters in the front row when normally you’d have three because Caris had to play all the way around,” Crum said. “They had to overcome a lot of adversity. We just didn’t have the pieces that we needed to push through (Monday night), but a lot of that started right here in their heads.”

Madilynn Hunter had to come out near the end of the fourth set after hurting her arm on a play after Crum said she had been dealing with a shoulder issue that she endured in the semifinals. Hunter finished with five kills and two service aces to follow Morgan Ross’ 13 kills and seven blocks and Ryenn Gordon’s 10 kills.

The period between rounds ended up not being enough to rest injuries or prepare the new roster for a Fulton team Crum said has a strong attack on the outsides. 

“Caris got a short practice Friday, we had practice on Sunday and she was back at it (Monday),” Crum said. “That’s a big role. She did a fantastic job. She can get to balls and play balls very well. I told her that I’ve never doubted her experience or her abilities once. The very first time I saw her set a ball, I knew she was a good setter.”

Crum said she would have liked to not have to solo block Fulton’s outside hitters as much as Centralia had to because the taller Cook also fills in well as a blocker. She estimated Cook could have added “two, three or maybe four” blocks to Centralia’s total of nine blocks.

Ross had seven of those blocks to add to her distinction as the one of the 10 best blockers in Class 3 this season, Crum said. Despite dealing with recovery from a torn ACL last winter, Ross cemented her place in the program record books as the career kills and blocks record-holder at about 552 kills and about 356 blocks. She finished with north of 200 kills and 90 blocks this season.

“The competitive spirit that she has like, for instance, she was not going to let their team get a ball down on the floor,” Crum said. “She did her darndest to make sure she was preventing that from happening. It’s just the fight in her, and not all girls have that. It’s the pure drive to compete. Not everyone has that aggressive, competitive nature.”

When it comes to the future, Crum said the “time is coming” for Centralia's first ever district title but thought it was worthwhile to look back at the accomplishments of the seven seniors. Ross, Cook, Katie Carrico, Carley Hombs. Raegan Anderson, Harper Forshee and Julia Baxter have each done their part for the Lady Panthers’ recent three-year run that has included various individual accomplishments.

Cook has the aforementioned career assists record, Ross has the previously mentioned career kills and blocks records, and the libero Carrico proved her value. According to Crum, Carrico became the match and season digs record holder last year by accumulating 44 against Mexico and Bowling Green as part of 415 in the season and set the new career digs record at more than 850.

"It's a record-breaking group," head coach Julie Crum said. "We just didn't make history (Monday night), but looking back at the girls, they did some phenomenal things. I'm proud of them every single second of every single day. That will never end beyond volleyball."

Centralia boys finish as runner-up at Bowling Green Invite

Centralia earned some hardware in a large race before districts at South Callaway starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

The boys finished as the runner-up on Friday at the Bowling Green Invite with 75 points compared to Father Tolton’s 63 points. Four Centralia runners came away with medals.

In the boys 5,000 meters, Rohan Holiman was Centralia’s top finisher in sixth out of 167 runners with a time of 16:49, Dryst Bostick was 10th with a 16:52 and Carter Moss was 15th with a 17:10. Eli Hill and Wesley Robertson were close to medals but were in the top 30 with respective finishes of a 22nd-place time of 17:40 and 26th-place time of 17:58.

For the girls, Kenedee Moss medaled in 10th out of 118 runners with a time of 20:49. Shelby Lewis was a close miss in 24th with a 22:17.

Father Tolton won the girls team title as well with 31 points and had the top individual runner in Elyse Wilmes with a winning time of 18:13. Bowling Green’s Ben Chance won the boys race with a time of 16:04.

In the junior varsity boys race, Mason Danielson was 31st out 93 runners with a time of 21:35.

Centralia regains swagger in 42-0 victory against Macon

Centralia needed a game like Friday right before districts.

The Class 3 No. 5 Panthers lost a Clarence Cannon Conference title 48-14 at state-ranked South Shelby the previous week and followed that with a 42-0 home victory against conference foe Macon. Centralia gained 440 total yards on offense, running for 338 yards.

The Panthers had control early on Senior Night with a 20-0 lead after the first quarter. Head coach Tyler Forsee said Centralia tried to do too much in last week’s matchup, given the opponent was high-quality with big stakes involved.

“Our kids were focused on the game at hand and trying to get back a little swagger,” Forsee said. “We did a better job with fundamentals – just blocking and tackling – and doing a good job of just worrying about our job and not trying to do anymore than what we were capable of doing.”

Jesse Caballero and senior Braedyn Decker each finished with over 100 rushing yards and two touchdowns – Caballero 126 yards on six carries and Decker 113 yards on 11 carries. Senior quarterback Cullen Bennett threw for 102 yards and a touchdown to Rex Bryson on 11-for-16 passing and ran for 53 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Centralia’s defense often has players like Ashton Price and Ian Tuggle at the top, which was the case Friday in limiting Macon to 49 total offensive yards. Price had six tackles and two tackles for loss and Tuggle had three tackles and two tackles for loss, but senior Emery Mast has been right there with them all year. Mast led the team with eight tackles and three tackles for loss while also recovering a fumble.

“He has done an exceptional job,” Forsee said. “He’s not a big kid, he’s not overly strong and he’s not the fastest kid, but he’s just tough just makes plays. He goes hard and flies around.”

Forsee is happy multiple players made an impact in the final regular season game as the Panthers begin districts on Friday. Centralia is the No. 3 seed in the Class 3 District 4 tournament and hosts No. 6 Hallsville (4-5), who has lost four straight games while playing two state-ranked opponents in that span.

The Panthers have seen Hallsville much in the past as the Indians are a geographic rival that lost this season’s meeting at Centralia 65-36. However, Centralia lost its opening district game last season 22-8. In the previous season, the Panthers lost 38-36 to Hallsville in that year’s district playoffs.

“They’ve got some good athletes and are well-coached,” Forsee said. “I don’t really have to talk the kids up to try anything harder than what they have to now. It’s pretty easy to get them motivated to play a team that’s just a few miles away.”