The LaCrosse Leopards may have been the 12-0 team, but the the Centralia Panthers came into Saturday's 2-1A state title game with the swagger of a team that had been there before.
The experience paid off as Centralia captured the Class 2-1A championship with a 20-14 overtime win at Lewis Field in Hays.
Centralia found the enzone first with five minutes left in the first quarter. John Steinlage broke though several tackles on his way to a 22-yard touchdown. The Panthers couldn't convert on the two-point try, making it a 6-0 ballgame.
LaCrosse would settle in and take control of the game on both sides. The Leopards were able to contain Centralia running back Michael Glatchzak and score points.
The Leopards first touchdowns would come on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tayler Stull to Kip Keeley and after a short punt gave them good field position.
Shortly after, LaCrosse would tack on a second score on a 31-yard tocuhdown run by Levi Morss and the Leopards carried a 14-6 lead into the half.
The only score of the third quarter came on a Centralia safety.
Following the safety, the Panthers put up their best drive of the game. Centralia went 80 yards on ten plays, capped by 8-yard run by Glatchzak. A failed two-point try left the game tied at 14-14.
Centralia looked to be driving for the game winning score, but on 4th-and-2 from the 15, Stull came up with a big stop, stuffing the Panthers drive.
On the next play, Austin Webs took a pitch and aired it out to Clayton Basgall, who took it 80 yards down to the Centralia 6-yard line.
With the ball in field goal range, with one of the top kickers in Class 2-1A, and 58 seconds on the clock, all LaCrosse had to do was hang onto the ball and a state title would have been well with in Eirik Wallevik's range.
However, the Leopards fumbled the second down snap, their seventh turnover of the day. It also proved to be the most costly as the game was forced into overtime.
In the extra period, the Panthers scored first on a 10 yard pass from Glatchzak to Steinlage, but again, LaCrosse stopped the two-point try.
The Leopards needed a touchdown and an extra point to win the title, but they were stopped on four straight plays, clinching the 2-1A title for Centralia (10-3). It was the second title for the Panthers in three years.
"I feel bad for the kids. We were in position where a couple calls go our way where I think we have this game won," LaCrosse head coach Jon Webster said. "The biggest thing is we didn't take care of the football. We had six, seven turnovers, I don't know what it was and that killed us."
Despite the loss, the Leopards wrapped a historic season at 12-1 and finishing as state runners-up for the first time ever.
