Throughout Friday’s Clarence Cannon Conference showdown, Palmyra was hanging around.
Centralia had enough to hold off its conference foe 35-24 on the road thanks largely to the 38 total …
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Throughout Friday’s Clarence Cannon Conference showdown, Palmyra was hanging around.
Centralia had enough to hold off its conference foe 35-24 on the road thanks largely to the 38 total yards and three touchdowns scored by quarterback Cullen Bennett.
Bennett was efficient in the air as he had 11-for-18 passing for 187 yards and a touchdown and racked up 121 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Head coach Tyler Forsee said having a player that can be dangerous in multiple ways offensively helps when an opponent refuses to go away.
“He can keep it very balanced,” Forsee said. “We can run him and his play action stuff is pretty good. He’s had two good games in a row being in complete control what we need him to control. Moving the chains on third down, I thought he was really efficient.”
Centralia led 21-12 at halftime after a scoreless first quarter by both teams and then took a 28-12 lead after the third quarter. Forsee said Palmyra (0-3, 0-1 CCC) forced Centralia (3-0, 1-0 CCC) into some adjustments early in the game.
“Palmyra did a good job game planning us,” Forsee said. “Their defensive line is pretty good. They shut our run game down early on and caused us to change a bit of what we were doing. We made some adjustments to try to be a little more balanced. The pass game helped open the run game.”
Jesse Caballero finished with 107 yards rushing on 15 carries and ran for two touchdowns to add to the 283 yards on the ground by the Panthers, and Forsee said having six receivers catch passes from Bennett helped pave the way for the running game.
Forsee said it seemed to be “one big play after another” allowed by Centralia on defense as Palmyra accumulated 460 yards of total offense – 223 passing. That didn’t prevent some guys from standing out. He said Ashton Price came through with three tackles for loss and a sack on the defensive line.
Anthony Ford was a perfect 5-for-5 on PATs to go with his receiving touchdown and a fumble recovery as one of many that helped the Panthers stay undefeated.
“I didn’t think our kids had their best night on either side,” Forsee said. “They competed well and found a way make a big play when we needed it.”
Centralia hosts another Clarence Cannon Conference foe Brookfield (1-2, 0-1 CCC) at 7 p.m. Friday.
