The seconds just kept ticking away for Centralia on Friday night.

The Class 2 No. 6 Panthers hosted Clarence Cannon Conference rival and top team in Class 1 in Monroe City, losing 28-7. Monroe City had a time of possession of 32:29 to more than double the 15:31 Centralia had the ball.

Monroe City outrushed the Panthers, carrying the ball for 295 yards and handing it off to Ceaton Pennewell 29 times for 121 yards and four touchdowns. Centralia finished with 182 yards on the ground, with 136 of them including a 67-yard touchdown coming from the legs of Kyden Wilkerson. The Panthers turned the ball over twice – an interception and a fumble on the goal line – that each turned into Monroe City touchdowns.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Monroe City is a team with a lot of physicality up front. Even though it is obvious going in that Monroe City was going to run the ball, doing just that by finishing with three pass attempts, he said it is still tough to stop.

“It was a challenge for us to get off the field on defense,” Forsee said. “They were able to control the game with their line play. We had to try to find a way to get them off the field, and we weren’t able to do that.”

Pennewell scored from one-yard out and tacked on two points after an 11-play, 56-yard drive that gave Monroe City an 8-0 lead with about six minutes left in the first quarter. Centralia was able to interrupt the subsequent Monroe City march down the field with a Breylen Whisler interception that he snatched out of the air along the left sideline.

That was Monroe City’s first pass attempt of the game, and quarterback Reece Buhlig wouldn’t throw it again for a while as he ran a 31-yard play deep into Centralia territory in the second quarter. Pennewell eventually plunged forward another yard for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

“(Their run) hits so fast. It’s hard to replicate in practice,” Forsee said. “It’s hard to get them in those third-and-longs that get a defense off (the field) because of the nature of their offense.”

The Panthers had a bad start to their next offensive drive, drawing a five-yard false start penalty. All it did, though, was add more distance to Wilkerson’s 67-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, making it 14-7 with seven minutes left in the first half.

Monroe City maintained its strategy to give it to Pennewell, and he had his third one-yard touchdown with 1:41 left in the first half to make it 20-7 at halftime.

“(Pennewell) is a bowling ball, but that No. 58 (Landan) Holland blocking for him is a dude too,” Forsee said. “They’ve got some guys.”

Centralia was put into a third-and-long situation at the start of the third quarter because of a chop blocking penalty so quarterback Cullen Bennett heaved a pass downfield in Cayden Dunn’s vicinity, but it landed in the breadbasket of Jaylynn Countryman. After about six minutes, Pennewell was tripped up from the eight-yard line but made it to the end zone for the 28-7 Monroe City lead with 3:31 left in the third quarter.

Bennett ran with the ball on a fourth-and-two and then tossed it to Jesse Shannon, who took the play for 23 yards to end the third quarter. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Panthers had a first-and-goal early in the fourth quarter only to lose a fumble at the three-yard line.

Centralia forced Monroe City (5-0, 3-0 CCC) to turn the ball over to them on downs but only after about six more minutes were off the clock.

“(The interception) didn’t kill us, and it didn’t kill us when we fumbled on the goal line going in, but at the same time, we want to be able to convert those things and execute those,” Forsee said. “That’s just playing clean football. We weren’t as clean as what we needed to be.”

Centralia (4-1, 2-1 CCC) will move on to face Clark County (3-2, 1-2 CCC) on the road Friday after the Indians lost 13-6 at South Shelby in Week 5.

“I was impressed with Monroe City tonight,” Forsee said. “They were able to penetrate some gaps and put us in some tough down and distance areas. Our kids fought their tails off, but hats off to them.”

Cross country

Centralia girls tie for first, Lester breaks school 5K record at Gans Creek Classic

Amongst a sea of runners Saturday in Columbia, Centralia’s athletes stood out.

The girls finished in a tie for first place in the white division with Summit Christian Academy as each school had 65 points. The Lady Panthers were led by four medalists: Jozelynn Bostick in third, Kenedee Moss in fourth, Shelby Lewis in 12th and Annie Robinson in 25th. The boys were third in the white division at 128 points behind St, Michael the Archangel and Dexter because of two medalists in JR Lesher at seventh and Landon Moss at 23rd, with Lesher breaking the school 5K record in the process.

Bostick ran to a time of 20:04.30, Moss had a time of 21:02.10, Lewis finished in 21:30.20 and Robinson had a time of 22:00.90. Lesher ran to a time of 17:09.10, and Moss finished in 17:50.80. 

Carter Moss was 28th, and John Holiman was 33rd to round out the Panthers in the top 40.

There were 17 schools and 163 runners in the girls white division, and 33 schools and 251 runners in the boys white division.

Softball

Centralia finishes third in Warrensburg tournament, almost sets new season-high

It was only the first game in what would be four games over two days, but Centralia was ready to go.

The Lady Panthers started pool play Friday in the Jennies High School Softball Tournament at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg by defeating Warrensburg 21-2, missing their season-high single-game output by one run. Centralia won two of its next three games 9-3 against Putnam County and 4-3 against Benton to finish third in the tournament. It lost its final game 8-2 to Blair Oaks for the team’s second loss against the Lady Falcons this season.

Harper Sontheimer and Kaelyn Walters were named to the tournament All-Star team after Sontheimer hit .300 with four RBI and Walters hit .375 with a triple and RBI and pitched to a 2.00 ERA. Leadoff hitter Autumn Hawkins finished with a .615 average and scored seven runs in the four games.

Centralia had all of its runs against Warrensburg after two innings as Makenzi Adkisson had five RBI, including a two-RBI home run for her second long ball of the season. Meredith Wright followed with three RBI, and Sontheimer, Jozelynn Bostick and Tilly Fox each had two RBI.

On Friday, the Lady Panthers tacked on against Putnam County in their final pool game, scoring the winning run in the second inning off an Olivia Adams walk. Hawkins and Madi Johnson each finished with three hits.

On Saturday against Benton, Centralia clung to a 1-0 lead until a three-run fifth inning highlighted by RBI hits from Adkisson and Ellie Page. Walters allowed six hits and struck out five through six innings.

Their tournament came to a close after the Lady Panthers’ 8-2 loss to Blair Oaks thanks to six innings of two runs on six hits allowed Ava Willson, who didn’t surrender a run until the fifth inning. Bostick’s sacrifice fly and Sontheimer’s RBI single scored the lone runs after Blair Oaks already had eight runs on the scoreboard.

Lady Panthers explode in last inning, defeat South Shelby 18-1

Centralia already had a commanding lead through most of its game Monday at South Shelby.

The Lady Panthers went into the seventh inning with an 8-1 lead but eclipsed that mark in the seventh inning alone, eventually winning the Clarence Cannon Conference matchup 18-1. Five girls finished with multiple RBI, led by Harper Sontheimer’s five RBI on 4-for-6 hitting, Jozelynn Bostick’s three RBI on 4-or-5 hitting and Jaelyn Vega hit a three-RBI home run.

Mackenzi Adkisson drove in three RBI, and Meredith Wright went 2-for-2 with two RBI. Kaelyn Walters allowed one run on five hits in seven innings while striking out five.

Wright’s RBI single in the sixth inning made it 8-1 prior to South Shelby unraveling with an error that scored two runs, Sontheimer tripling in a run, and hitting and walking batters in front of Vega, who homered to left field for a 15-1 lead.

Centralia (12-9, 4-2 CCC) plays at conference foe Clark County (5-8, 0-4) on Thursday.

Girls golf

Lady Panthers compete amongst bigger schools in Troy

It wasn’t a high finish Thursday at the Troy Invitational for Centralia but was a battle.

The Class 2 Lady Panthers played in the tournament that contained several bigger schools, including winner and Class 4 school Francis Howell after shooting a 342. Centralia had a 453 to take 12th out of 17 teams, finishing behind host Class 4 school Troy-Buchanan’s 425 and just ahead of Class 3 North Point’s 454.

Tess Stephens led the team the previous day at the Salisbury Invitational, taking seventh in that tournament, and led the Lady Panthers again after shooting a 95. Bailey Pace was close behind with a 101, Olivia Morris had a 128, Kyla Spickert finished with a 129 and Jace Brown had a 138. Stephens was one of 26 golfers out of 85 golfers to score below 100.

Francis Howell’s Hannah Mottert, Class 4 Timberland’s Gabby Rettinghaus and Class 3 Holt’s Viv Boix finished the day in a three-way tie for first after each shot an 80.

Centralia competed in a meet at Clarence Cannon Conference foe Macon on Tuesday before playing at New Bloomfield today.