As a light mist lifted from the Centralia High School football field Friday night, running back Kyden Wilkerson made his way to the north end zone as the game clock read 1:00 remaining.
Wilkerson and the Panthers just completed a nine-play drive to pay off the foul, erasing 4:42 of playing time and giving Centralia a 26-20 lead. Four defensive plays later, the Panthers sealed the victory by six points.
As the Centralia players raged on the sidelines, they celebrated a match that has become an unmissable rivalry.
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After Hallsville beat Centralia twice last season, the Panthers regain bragging rights until the next time the two play.
“It keeps growing,” Wilkerson said. “We are the neighborhood bullies.”
In the last 12 years, Hallsville and Centralia have met six times. The Panthers have a 4-2 lead in those games, with four of those six games played in the last three seasons.
Prior to 2020, the two teams last played in 2011. Recent history was on display Friday night.
Players pushed back and forth after plays as if they wanted to have the physical last word. Each of the six combined turnovers in the first half felt like a huge swing in momentum.
“These two schools should have been playing each other years ago,” Hallsville coach Justin Conyers said. “Why did it take us so long to get on each other’s schedules? I don’t know why, but it’s now.”
Conyers helped fuel some of that passion, rebuilding Hallsville’s program into a consistent contender for the district title.
It means something to beat a program that has posted 27 wins the last three seasons, especially when that program broke out with a 38-point win to open the season.
“We’re close,” Centralia coach Tyler Forsee said. “It’s easy to get up. I don’t tell our kids, ‘Let’s try to win this game.'” They know.”
Hallsville’s work to become a competitive program and Centralia’s desire to develop that same status create a high school football environment that is tangibly exciting.
That environment is exacerbated by proximity. The two schools are 13 minutes apart, separated by nine miles.
“This is what you want to play,” Conyers said. “That’s what high school football is all about.”
Conyers remembers the first time he played in Centralia coaching Hallsville. It was 2020, and the pandemic restricted attendance to just two tickets allocated for parents of players.
Two years later, the impact on the community was evident to the fourth-year coach.
“This place was empty,” Conyers said. “Looking at this crowd tonight and what it does to our communities, this is what should happen in high school football.”
Even in a loss, Conyers understood how good of a game the two teams had just played.
Hallsville struck first with a 72-yard touchdown run by Colton Nichols and eventually took a 12-0 lead. Centralia forced their return to the game in the second quarter.
Quarterback Cullen Bennett completed three passes on the night. One was a touchdown to Jack Romine to get on the board, and Wilkerson tied the game with a 75-yard touchdown run.
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The Panthers built on the momentum and took a 20-12 halftime lead. The reason was because of the three Hallsville turnovers that Centralia forced in the second quarter.
“We’re ready to play,” Wilkerson said. “We’re here. Let’s go.”
Wilkerson was the catalyst for the win, rushing for 270 yards and two touchdowns while recording four tackles and forcing a fumble.
“I told my guys at the meeting that I love you all,” Wilkerson said. “We’re going to do it again next week.”
In the span of a year, Centralia went from losing to Hallsville 46-12 in the second week of the 2021 season to shutting down Conyers’ offense. The Panthers haven’t lost the advantage they found midseason in 2021, but it’s quite a different advantage.
That edge comes from how Centralia learned about itself last season.
“We weren’t installing at the beginning of the year,” Forsee said. “We already knew our identity.”
That identity is a robust defense and attacking running game. Forsee players identify where the ball is and take down the offense.
That identity is also based on respect for the other sidelines, especially when the starting quarterback came within a week of scoring seven touchdowns in a single game.
“So many guys are swarming on defense, it was tremendous.” “Colton Nichols is a guy. We swarmed good.”
This sets up another revenge arc.
In 2021, Conyers was well aware that his Hallsville team wanted nothing more than revenge on the Centralia team that bested them the year before.
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Hallsville will have a chance to return the favor. Both teams are in MSHSAA Class 2 District 7, which means there could be a rematch in the postseason.
Then, the next chapter in a budding rivalry will be written.
“This has become quite a game,” Conyers said. “The whole matchup and the whole rivalry.”
Chris Kwiecinski is the sports editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune and oversees sports coverage for the University of Missouri and Boone County. Follow him on Twitter @OchoK_ and contact him at [email protected] or 573-815-1857.