The Centralia-Wetmore Panthers have dominated on the field from the start of the season and continued to do so Friday night in the sectionals of the Playoffs moving them one win away from another state title game.
Centralia hit the road to take on an Olpe team that beat them two years ago in the playoffs 10-0 in Olpe, but this time the Panthers were on the prowl and struck with a 28-0 shutout win, good for their fifth shutout of the season and more importantly punched the Panthers ticket to the Class 2-1A sub-state semifinals.
Panther defense continued to control its competition as the Panthers have only allowed 43 points all season. For the offense its been junior quarterback, JT Rosine and tailback, Sam Steinlage rushing the ball down the throats of opposing defenses all year as they came into the game with Olpe with 2,500 plus yards combined on the ground.
This game it was Sam Steinlage leading the way doing all the scoring for the Panthers as he punched in three TD runs will catching a 15 yard TD pass from Rosine for the other score of the ball game. Panthers tallied six in the first, eight in the second before putting up 14 more in the third to cap of the scoring on the night.
With the win Centralia improves upon the state's longest winning streak which moves to 20 straight games as the Panthers are now 11-0 on the season.
Next up for the defending Class 2-1A state champs will be an unbeaten Lyndon team who beat McLouth 39-6 to move on and improve to 11-0 this year. Lyndon like Centralia touts a stiff defense that doesn't give up every many points. Centralia will play host to Lyndon Friday night at 7:00pm, you can hear the game on 92.1 KMZA and online here at mscsports.net (click to listen).
Updated Class 2-1A bracket (click here)
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