Panthers punctuate perfect regular season by hammering Warriors as playoff prelude

CAMP POINT, Ill. — At Central High School, the postseason has become an annual rite of passage once the calendar reaches deep into October.

And it’s time — for the 14th straight year — for the Panthers to turn their attention to another playoff pursuit.

Central, No. 4 in the latest Class 1A rankings, punctuated a perfect regular season with a 42-6 dismantling of visiting Hardin Calhoun on a balmy Friday night, setting the stage for the latest postseason run. Central will find out its first-round opponent Saturday night when the Illinois High School Association releases the lineups for all eight classes.

“I feel like we’re right where we should be going into the playoffs,” Central linebacker Hunter Louderback said.

For Louderback, the playoffs will be especially gratifying after missing all of 2021 following labrum surgery on both of his shoulders.

Panthers coach Brad Dixon said Louderback’s long and grueling comeback from those surgeries was one of several inspirational stories that has made the performance of this year’s club one of the most rewarding in his 12 years as Central coach.  

“I am so proud of these guys,” Dixon said. “Coming into the season, we had to replace our top six offensive linemen, an all-state running back and more … we had lost some important pieces.

“You don’t lose what he had and expect to (go 9-0).”

This year’s 9-0 regular-season finish is the fourth in school history. All four have come under Dixon, the first three in back-to-back-to-back fashion his first three years as coach in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Dixon admitted he got spoiled in those early years.

“I thought it was going to be like that every season,” he joked.

Josh Alford, Central’s 6-foot-5 tight end/linebacker, said what might wind up as the turning point in the current season may have come after a hard-earned 36-28 victory at Beardstown in Week 7.

Alford felt the “smack” Central received from Beardstown may have been a much-needed wake-up call. A long-time Central nemesis, Beardstown was the only team to not only reach double figures against the Panthers but score more than one touchdown. The dogfight against Beardstown was nothing new — the Tigers have handed Central four of its 14 regular-season losses in Dixon’s 12 years as coach.

That win over Beardstown also wrapped up a 5-0 showing in the Western Illinois Valley Conference (WIVC) North, the Panthers’ third straight divisional title and seventh in the 10 years Central has been a league member.

“This all feels amazing,” said Alford, attempting to capture the moment of a just-completed regular season and the accomplishments it held.

Against Calhoun, the Panthers rolled to 504 yards in total offense, including a season-high 394 yards on the ground. 

Calhoun was limited to 138 total yards.

“We worked all week on (Calhoun’s) triple option,” Louderback said. “Our defense wasn’t perfect, but we did pretty well.”

As usual, Central’s ground attack was both potent and balanced. Ross Riley’s 74 yards were the most, but he received ample support from Wyatt Schemerhorn, Isaac Genenbacher, Gavin Graves, Conner Griffin and Drew Paben.

Central is now averaging 330.4 yards per game rushing, just shy of the 2013 school record 336.9. Despite all of those yards on a weekly basis, the Panthers’ spread-the-wealth approach has produced just two individual 100-yard games this season. Genenbacher leads the team in rushing with 601 yards.

Riley became the first Central back to score three touchdowns in a game on runs of 1, 6 and 4 yards. Central, which has had as many as six different backs score in a game this season, also received an 11-yard scoring run from quarterback Nick Moore and touchdown bursts of 15 and 2 yards from Griffin. 

Actually, the individual offensive star of the game for Central was arguably Moore, who was a perfect 7-for-7 passing for 110 yards. Central had only thrown the ball 22 times over its first eight games, and Moore had been sidelined with an injury since midway through week five.

“We just took what they were giving us,” Dixon said of the added reliance on the passing game.

Central holds a 7-1 series advantage over Calhoun since joining the WIVC. Calhoun’s lone win against Central came in 2017.

Calhoun’s only touchdown came on a second-quarter score, a 3-yard pass from Miles Lorton to running back Patrick Friedel. That touchdown cost the Panthers what would have been their sixth shutout of the season. Central has 28 shutouts in Dixon’s tenure as coach.

That particular blip on Central’s 9-0 radar had minimal impact on what was a festive postgame celebration. That celebration, however, was hopefully more of a beginning than an end for the Panthers.

“We put it all together, and we’ll be leaving it all on the field when the playoffs begin,” Alford said.