CENTRALIA STYMIES MACON TO CAPTURE CONFERENCE TITLE
The Centralia Panthers sealed up a perfect season and a Clarence Cannon Conference title with a 21-7 win over Macon Friday night. The turning point came after a goal line stand by Centralia. Quarterback John Durant would then engineer a 93 yard drive to tilt the game in the Panthers favor.
Colin Schowe with the call on 99.9 The Captain and centralmoinfo.com. Durant carried the ball 19 times for 174 yards to lead the Panthers ground attack. Centralia coach Jim Newsted said Grafton Littrell also provided a solid contribution offensively.
Littrell carried the ball twelve times for 72 yards. Altogether the Panthers ground attack chewed up 382 yards on 53 carries. Meanwhile the defense held Macon off the scoreboard until a late touchdown pass in the 4th quarter by Mikel Linear. Newsted said despite the late touchdown, their pass defense was excellent.
Following an injury to quarterback Blake Claas in last week’s game against Palmyra, Macon ended up using three different quarterbacks against Centralia. After Jacob Nelson and Chrisjen Riekeberg split time in the first half, Linear played the entire second half under center for the Tigers. Macon head coach Pete Claas said Linear gained a valuable learning experience in his first varsity action.
The Tigers have now lost five of their last six games. Despite the result against Centralia, Claas liked the way his team battled throughout.
Macon falls to 4-5, while Centralia wraps up a 9-0 regular season.
Centralia coach Jim Newsted
Macon coach Pete Claas
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
