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It was a blistery November night and a bid to the Class 2-1A State championship game was up for grabs in Lyndon as the Centralia-Wetmore Panthers traveled to the Tigers home to take them on for the second straight year in order to make the State title game and that they did with a 69-21 win.
The Panthers established dominance early forcing Lyndon to a three-and-out and negative yards on the series and then pounced with specials teams. Before the offense even took to the field the Panthers had points on the field as senior, Sam Steinlage busted loose for a 49-yard punt return TD and Centralia-Wetmore lead 7-0.
Centralia-Wetmore defense continued stonewall Lyndon throughout the first half while busting out big plays with the rushing attack out of the single-wing as fullback, Trevor Mars shot through the line for a 36-yard TD run and then senior quarterback, JT Rosine galloped for an 86-yard TD run and seven-yard TD run, too making it 27-0 after the first quarter.
The second quarter wasn’t any different as the points and yards continued to pile up for Centralia-Wetmore and as it was 54-0 at the half after Steinlage ran for his second TD in the from nine yards out, Rosine added his third TD a 61-yard run, Mars scored his second TD from one-yard out and Darrian Turner posted a 25-yard scamper for score.
With some of the reserves coming to start the second half and Wyatt VanDorn took over at quarterback and scored a 15-yard TD to make it 61-0 in the third quarter for the Panthers.
Lyndon then finally found some offense and scored three consecutive TD’s with Joe Walsh, Josh Owens and Gaige Brecheisen each rushing for a score but Centralia-Wetmore added another TD before the final whistle as Jonathan Johnson busted out a 50-yard run, making it 69-21 and sending the Panthers to their third straight 2-1A state title game appearance.
Panther’s defense once again stonewalled another opponent giving up just 187 total yards of offense to Lyndon; 180 of which were rushing yards, as Lyndon fell quite short of their 331.8 rushing yards per game average. Linebacker, Brett Burdiek led the defense with 16 tackles, pair of sack’s and a blocked kick.
Offense was led by Rosine who totaled 176 yards on just seven carries with three TDs, while Mars had 147 yards on nine carries with his two scores. Panthers as a team ran for 504 yards on 35 attempts, good for 14.4 yards per carry average in the game.
The win puts Centralia-Wetmore at 12-0 on the season and on the cusp of another state title as they head to Hays on Saturday, November 30th in search of their third state title in school history and in the last five years. The Panthers set the goal of a return trip to the title game and now the only goal looming in front of them is taking home the hardware.
Panthers will take on LaCrosse who beat Meade 38-24 in the other Sub-State matchup with kick at 1:00pm and pregame at 12:30pm on 92.1 KMZA on Saturday, November 30th.
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