Sam Steinlage

The Centralia Panthers football program has been dominating teams for the last few years in big part to play of senior, Sam Steinlage who’s been an impact player on both sides of the ball and has helped lead the way for the Panthers this season to their 7-0 mark on the year, as they are on a quest to return to the Class 2-1A State championship and this year capture the crown.

Panthers dominate performances continued last Friday as Centralia took down Troy 55-18 in a district matchup and Steinlage led the charge in the win getting it down on both sides of the ball in the contest.

Sam continued to churn out the great offensive performances making it look effortless once again amassing 137 yards on just six carries on the night, two going for touchdowns, while adding another touchdown on his one reception of the night going for 24 yards.

While the offensive impact was felt Steinlage swung over to the defensive side of the ball playing linebacker and continued to partner with his teammates to shut down their opponents. The senior leader continued to lead the team in tackles totaling eight in the competition, six of which were solo tackles. But his impact was felt even more drastically on defense as he came up with his first turnover forced on the year intercepting a Troy pass and taking 35 yards to the endzone for another touchdown on the night to give him four on the evening.

Steinlage has been a workhorse for Centralia over his time and his senior year thus far hasn’t been any different totaling 833 yards rushing on 73 carries this year in seven games, scoring 14 touchdowns in the process. Sam is averaging 119 yards rushing per game and 11.4 yards per carry, while putting up 99 yards on seven receptions with a pair of touchdown receptions. Six of the seven games played the senior has registered 100+ rushing yards.

Defensively at linebacker he leads the team in tackles posting 59 on the season while adding an interception return touchdown to his defensive totals this past week. Sam is averaging over eight tackles per game this season.

The Panthers who have been ranked number one in Class 2-1A all season look to be primed for another run to a possible State championship and Senior, Sam Steinlage has been a key cog in leading the way for the Panthers success.