On a cold, snowy night in Centralia Friday night the Panthers saw their season come to an end with a 20-18 loss to Olpe in the sectional round of the Class 1A playoffs falling just short on a 2-point conversion try with 1:16 left.

The Panthers trailed by 14 points with under four minutes left before making it close, but Olpe was able to get the stops they needed to ice the game away.

Neither team was able to put points on the scoreboard in the first quarter as both teams went three-and-out on their five combined drives in the quarter.

Centralia finally broke through at the start of the second quarter, going on a 12-play, 49 yard drive that ended with a Kamble Haverkamp 4-yard touchdown run giving the Panthers a 6-0 lead with 10:33 left in the half.

Olpe came right back with a scoring drive of their own on only five plays, as Colby Hoelting found Dawson McCarthy on a 45-yard strike that tied the game up at 6 going into halftime.

With both teams going back-and-forth it was going to come down to who made the mistakes and unfortunately for the Panthers they made the first two which proved to be the difference.

Haverkamp tossed two interceptions in the third quarter and Olpe capitalized scoring two unanswered touchdowns to take a 20-6 lead into the fourth quarter.

Centralia started their comeback with a 10-yard Haverkamp touchdown run for his second of the night, before hitting Donvan Blagg on a 26-yard TD to pull the Panthers within two. Centralia then went for the 2-point conversion to tie the game but Haverkamp was stopped at the one yard line which allowed Olpe to kneel out the remaining clock.

Centralia was held to just 226 total yards in the contest and 160 on the ground which was 200 yards under their season average per game. Kamble Haverkamp finished with 92 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while he completed 5-of-7 passes for 66 yards and score.

The Panthers end the year with a record of 8-3 and champions of the Twin Valley League.