Photo by Samantha Davis. Murray County Central's Carson Lewis runs in for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Tuesday evening. The Rebels won 51-36 and move on to the Section 3A semifinals on Saturday. 

SLAYTON — Powered behind four first-half touchdowns in a thrilling game that came down to the wire, the No. 3 Murray County Central football team took down the No. 6 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers 51-36 Tuesday evening in the Section 3A quarterfinals.

“Proud of our guys. I think it’s all about our players, trusting the process and staying true to who we are,” MCC head coach Patrick Freeman said. “To get a playoff win versus a really good football team, it means a lot … But, we’re not done yet.” 

Both the Rebels and Panthers entered the playoffs coming off recent success and on winning streaks, posing the night to be a tightly-contended rivalry as MCC beat TMB earlier this month 39-20. 

“It was like a boxing match, and they got a few more punches in than we did,” TMB head coach Jason Kainz said. “Offensively, we were able to move the football. We made a couple of mistakes, we didn’t score on the opening drive and then we turned the ball over once. That’s really the difference in the game.” 

MCC ended the regular season with four straight wins, in which three of them were shutouts by 43 or more points. Its two losses came from Springfield on Sept. 6 and a close 13-11 fall to Adrian-Ellsworth on Sept. 20, who the Rebels will now face in the semifinals next. 

TMB also won its last two games, after working through the season in building its young roster up to more experience. It took down St. James Area 29-20 on Oct. 11 and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton last week in a commanding 46-0 shutout. 

Although MCC got in the end zone four times in the first half, MCC did three times as well. The entirety of the game was nearly touchdown for touchdown, but Andrew Holm had a game-changing interception in the third quarter which resulted in a Rebels touchdown that gave MCC a big enough push to finish the night. 

“Andrew is a leader on this team offensively and defensively. He takes so much pride in his preparation. He’s not the biggest guy, he’s not the fastest guy, but you’re not going to out-prepare him,” Freeman said. “It’s just fun to see him play football because he gives everything he has every play.” 

Although Teague Meyer’s two pass attempts both went for incompletions for the Rebels, the offense was centered around Carson Lewis and Holm. 

Lewis had a team-high 233 rushed yards and four touchdowns, followed by Holm with 158 yards and two touchdowns. Meyer rushed for 26 yards and ran in for one touchdown. 

MCC made its way down the field in its first offensive run, and Lewis ran into the end zone just over two minutes into the game at 9:55. The field goal kick attempt was successful by Carson Engelkes to give the Rebels an early 7-0 advantage. 

Trevor Smith didn’t allow the Panthers to go unanswered and made a string of plays to get TMB to collect a handful of first-downs. 

Smith threw 26 complete passes on 46 attempts for 323 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. He also had a team-high 100 rushing yards.

Smith passed to Griffin Zick, a large part of TMB’s offense along with Noah Knakmuhs and David Schuh, to first get to the Rebels’ 42-yard line.

The Panthers entered the red zone after Smith carried to the 20-yard line following a Schuh carry. A pair of complete passes to Zick gave TMB its first touchdown.

A successful 2-point conversion to Emery Xiong put the Panthers on top 8-7. 

MCC responded nearly immediately, with a long rush from Holm straight into the end zone, and a good 2-point attempt brought them back in front up 15-8. 

The Rebels defense also took its stance, forcing a TMB fourth down and taking the ball back. This possession ultimately gave the Rebels the one touchdown difference to end the half. 

Meyer and Lewis led the offense on the possession and brought the team to first-and-goal to end the first quarter, which resulted in Lewis running in from the 3-yard line to start the second and giving the Rebels a 22-8 advantage. 

The Panthers once again were able to cut the deficit and continued to put pressure on the home team. 

A combination of Smith passes to Knakmuhs and Zick got TMB within the red zone before an 8-yard carry from Schuh. 

Smith found Zick for the touchdown and 2-point play after, cutting into the Rebels lead 22-16. 

Both teams each grabbed another touchdown before the half, continuing to respond to one another. 

Meyer, Holm and Lewis got MCC into the end zone followed by a successful field goal kick by Engelkes. 

After Isaiah Wolske and Griffen Braun assisted a tackle on TMB for a loss of 8 yards and a second down, Smith brought the Panthers back up and led them back down the field. 

Wolske had three tackles on the night along with Noah Mathiowets and Gabe Tentinger. Braun tallied one and a sack, and Gavin Gillette led with five. 

Schuh eventually carried in for a touchdown. The 2-point attempt was unsuccessful and TMB trailed 29-22 at the half. 

“We were only down by 7, and last time they had us down by [10] at half,” Kainz said about what he told the players at halftime. “We were going toe to toe with them and swinging, and we just needed to get a stop.” 

Lewis grabbed the 36-22 slightly cushioned lead for MCC back at the start of the second half, running in for 11 yards for the touchdown.  

“Our offense system, we stayed true, and we ran right at them. We were able to stay physical the entire night, and that was our goal,” Freeman said. “I give a lot of credit to our coaching staff, our offensive coordinator and our guys for believing in it.”

After the Panthers got to the 9-yard line and closed in on the end zone that could bring the game within one touchdown, Holm was the Rebels potential deciding factor as he caught an interception and rushed for 55 yards down the field. 

The interception gave Holm the opportunity to rush another 25 yards for the touchdown to start the fourth quarter, which extended the Rebels lead to 43-22 and limited TMB’s chances to come back. 

However, TMB didn’t lose its urgency and wasn’t ready to end the night. 

Smith carried for enough first-down yardage after being sacked by Holm, and threw two complete passes to Schuh and Knakmuhs following. 

Smith found Zick for the touchdown and a 2-point play after, to cut into the deficit 43-30. 

In the game’s trend, MCC returned the favor as Lewis ran in for another one within the 20-yard line, and a successful 2-point conversion brought the 51-30 advantage. 

With time running down, TMB got the night’s final touchdown as Smith threw to Zick once more this season with just under two minutes to go and for the final 51-36 score.  

The Panthers end its season 3-6 overall and could be seen hugging one another individually near center field after the game.

“We have gained a lot of experience this year,” Kainz said. “Look for good things in the future, but we do graduate some really talented guys.” 

MCC, 7-2, will travel to take on No. 2 Adrian-Ellsworth in the semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. 

“It’s going to be a tough, physical game. They bring a little bit of a different presence,” Freeman said. “They’ve been really good and it’s going to be a really big test for us, but I’m excited that we have the opportunity.”

Full TMB stats were unavailable at the time of publication.