The Centralia Panthers ended their very successful season as State-Runner Up as they fell to #1 Conway Springs, 41-6, in the 1A State Championship game in Hutchinson Saturday evening. 

After a Panther defensive stop on the first possession of the game, the Centralia offense stalled out near mid field. Their ensuing punt was blocked and returned 58 yards for a touchdown by Conway Springs senior Grant Fisher to give the Cardinals the early 7-0 lead.

Centralia responded with a 6 play scoring drive capped by a fantastic 21 yard TD catch by senior Ben Haverkamp from senior QB Jacob Flentie on 4th and 11.  The 2 point conversion failed, but the Panthers were within one at 7-6.

Conway Springs completed a 12 play possession thanks to an Isaac Winter 3 yard run and with the extra point, went up 14-6 on the first play of the 2nd quarter.  

After a Panther three and out, the Cardinals wasted no time from their own 7 yard line, taking just 3 plays to go 93 yards, culminated by a Grant Fisher 33 yard scamper to make it 21-6 and that would be the Conway Springs lead at halftime as Centralia was turned away on downs at the Cardinal 8 yard line late in the 2nd quarter.

The 2nd half was dominated by Conway Springs as Winter scored on touchdown runs of 20 and 56 yards in the 3rd quarter to push the Cardinal advantage to 34-6 heading in the 4th where Conway Springs would tack on another score thanks to a Winter 64 yard jaunt to the Centralia one. QB Logan Osner scored on the next play to finish the scoring at 41-6.

Isaac Winter led the Cardinal offensive attack with 227 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns as Conway Springs amassed 386 total yards, all on the ground, as they didn’t attempt a single pass in the game.

Centralia was led by seniors Ben Haverkamp and Jacob Flentie. Haverkamp was once again very active on defense and hauled in 4 receptions for 80 yards and a score.  Flentie added 97 yards rushing to go along with 80 passing yards.

With the win, Conway Springs completed a perfect 13-0 season and earned their 9th state title. This was the 3rd time the Cardinals won back-to-back titles as they won it all last year as well. The Cardinals have now won 24 games in a row.

With the loss, Centralia saw their 10 game winning streak snapped. They finish their remarkable season and with an 11-2 record