Last night might have been cold and raining, but the real storm came from the Centralia Panthers' 40-26 victory over the Olpe Eagles. Coming into the night, the Panthers had an all-time playoff lead over Olpe 4-3, but after yesterday’s demolition, they now hold it at 5-3.

The Centralia Panthers won the toss and elected to defer. On their opening drive, the Eagles went sixty-four yards down the field, chewed nearly seven minutes taken off the clock, and converted a fourth-and-seven on the drive to take a 7-0 lead in the first. The scoring play was a quarterback sneak from the one-yard line by Dexton Hoelting. The Panthers, on their first drive, couldn’t manage a first down and had turnover-on-downs that set up Olpe on Centralia’s forty-three-yard line. Fortunately for Centralia, the first play by the Eagles on this drive was an offensive pass interference that moved Olpe back and forced them to punt.

Centralia was down 7-0 heading into the second quarter and, on their second drive, was three-and-outed and forced to punt. Olpe would take no time to extend their opening lead to 14-0 with a touchdown pass from Hoelting to Abbott Bailey, complimented with another extra point kick right on through by the freshman kicker, Ryker Windle. The Panthers would find their first surge of offense with a two-play drive to score. Quinton Aldefer would bust out a 17-yard run to set up a 43-yard touchdown run from Jacob Flentie, Flentie would also find Ben Haverkamp in the endzone for the two-point-conversation to make it 14-8. The Panther's defense would force the Eagles to punt on their fourth possession, and Centralia would go right back down the field to score in just five plays to take a 16-14 lead. Jacob Flentie found Quinton Aldefer on a 37-yard touchdown pass to take the lead going into the half. 

It was clear that the game plan for Olpe was to hold the possession time and for Centralia to score fast. Centralia had the only touchdown in the third quarter with a Quinton Alderfer 45-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 24-14. The front blocking for Centralia was also becoming impenetrable. 

Both teams would find two scores in the fourth quarter, first with Centralia taking a 32-14 lead with a Jacob Flentie 2-yard rush. Olpe would respond with a seventy-three-yard drive in seven plays to cut the score down to 32-20, failing the two-point-conversation. Centralia would score yet another touchdown after being set up on their 48-yard line from a failed onside kick; the Panthers would re-extend their lead by then 40-20 off a 67-yard touchdown run from Quinton Alderfer, set up from an incredible block by Isaac Rienecke. The last score of the game to make it the final tally of 40-26 was a 1-yard passing touchdown from Dexton Hoelting to Brayden Lienemann. The Panthers would hold onto the ball on their ninth and final possession to win it with a quarterback kneel. 

The player of the game for the Panthers was easily Quinton Alderfer, who had over 210 yards of offense and three scores, being broken down into three receptions for 49 yards and a score, with six rushing attempts for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Jacob Flentie had a nice night as well for the Panthers with 19 carries for 106 yards rushing and two ground scores while completing five-of-six passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

The Panthers will now go on the road to play St Mary’s Pitt-Colgan with an opportunity to go to sub-state for the first time since 2022.