Photos by Samantha Davis: Murray County Central's Gabe Tentinger (2) rushes down the field in the second quarter against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Friday night in Tracy during a prep football game. The Rebels defeated the Panthers 62-12. Below: MCC quarterback Teague Meyer rushes for a long touchdown in the second quarter. Below: MCC Jordan Sturges breaks through a tackle and runs in for a two-point conversion in the first quarter.

TRACY — Teague Meyer’s four touchdowns helped the Murray County Central football team pick up its fourth straight win Friday night against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, 62-12, in a Mid-South District game. Friday marked the Panthers’ final home game of the regular season.

“We just preach getting better each week, and I feel like our guys are staying on course,” MCC head coach Patrick Freeman said. “Our guys are believing in the process.”

MCC pulled away early behind a big second quarter, scoring a trio of touchdowns and bringing in four throughout the first half. Meyer had four touchdowns in total on the night, three of which came in the opening half, while Carson Lewis and Brayden Gilb each had two, and Jordan Sturges had one as well. Emery Xiong and Jackson Kruse had touchdowns for TMB.

“[I’m] happy how the offense kind of dominated the line of scrimmage. The defense was able to get the ball back to the offense, and then I thought the second half, we started off exactly what we wanted to do,” Freeman said. “We were able to get a pick-6 for a score, and we were able to carry the momentum the whole game.”

Overall, MCC had 412 rushing yards on 53 carries to TMB’s 181 yards on 21 attempts. The Rebels make it a point to run the ball, having zero passing yards on the night, to the Knights’ 93 passing yards.

“They’re a really, really good football team. Their [MCC’s] option game is tough, and I think once we started slowing it down on just a few plays, they adjusted, and they’re really good at doing that,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “Then defensively, they’re not going to give up a big play, so you got to just keep driving and not make mistakes, but we did that a couple times.”

MCC was led by Meyer as quarterback, while TMB rotated between a few quarterbacks.

“[We wanted to] see what we got. Aiden [Sanow] played the first two series, then Jackson [Kruse] played the third one and then kind of went back and forth after that,” coach Kruse said. “I thought they both played pretty good at times, and then they both made a couple mistakes that they want back, so we will look at film and see where we go from there.”

The Rebels received the ball first, with carries by Lewis and Gabe Tentinger bringing the ball down the field.

Tentinger rushed for 14 yards to bring MCC into the red zone at the 10-yard line, while another pair of Lewis carries put the Rebels on the 1-yard line on third down.

Meyer carried in on the next play to get MCC on the board on its first drive of the night, along with a successful 2-point conversion play by Sturges after running a left route into the end zone.

Lewis led MCC with 194 rushing yards on 17 carries, while Meyer finished the night with 138 on seven carries.

TMB’s David Schuh continued to be a key piece for the Panthers’ offense with a string of carries, along with a complete pass from Aiden Sanow to Emery Xiong to get on the 10-yard line.

Schuh had a team-high 142 rushing yards on 15 carries for the Panthers.

Yet, MCC’s Dugan Kluis broke up a touchdown pass attempt to force third down on the Panthers, with an incomplete pass to follow, giving the Rebels back possession.

The first quarter came to a close with a large carry from Tentinger, which Meyer completed on the first play in the second quarter with a 42-yard rushing touchdown down the middle of the field after breaking through a pocket, to put MCC up 14-0.

Along with its offense, MCC’s defense was also cohesive throughout the night and continued to interrupt pass attempts.

The Rebels again took the ball back, and it wasn’t long until Meyer found himself back in the end zone after a 77-yard rushing touchdown, along with a successful extra point attempt from Aubin Licht, to bolster an early 21-0 advantage.

“Just can’t say enough good things about him [Meyer]. He’s a leader of our team and captain or team,” Freeman said. “He runs our offense, and I think he made the right reads tonight. When you’re able to do that, good things are happening.”

TMB was able to get on the board in its next drive with a catch by Ty Yackley and carries by Schuh and Griffin Zick. Kruse stepped in as quarterback, who delivered a 17-yard touchdown pass to Yackley on fourth down to cut into a 21-6 deficit.

Yackley led TMB with 41 receiving yards on two catches, while Zick followed with 24 yards also on a pair of catches.

On MCC’s next drive, a 17-yard carry from Tentinger set Lewis up in scoring position for a 24-yard rushing touchdown on the next play, along with another field goal to put the Rebels up 28-6 with just over three minutes to go in the half.

“Our offensive line sets the tempo, and obviously, I thought we did a really nice job controlling the line of scrimmage,” Freeman said. “Then our wing backs from Carson Lewis, you got Gabe Tentinger and then you got Jordan Sturges, all three of them, they balance each other out to try to keep defenses off balance. Overall, I was really happy with their performance.”

Defensively, Lucas Kuball had nine tackles, six of which were assisted, while Luke Iverson and Noah Mathiowez each had another four to lead MCC.

Finn Schneider kept MCC’s momentum going with an interception moments later, yet TMB’s Lawton Verlinde returned the favor by recovering a fumble as the half came to a close.

Yet, the Rebels didn’t let up and opened the second half with an immediate 25-yard pick-6 return from Gilb to give MCC a 35-6 edge, ultimately putting the dagger on the game.

“I thought overall, we were able to adjust and go through some adversity. I give credit to Tracy, I thought they had some drives. We bent, but we didn’t break,” Freeman said. “When we needed to make a play to give the ball back to the offense, we were able to do that.”

Meyer, Sturges and Lewis also each had another touchdown in the third quarter, while Gilb had one in the fourth along with Kruse’s for TMB.

There are two weeks remaining in the regular season before section play begins.

The Panthers (2-4) conclude their regular season with a pair of road games, next traveling to take on Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (1-5) next Friday at 7 p.m., before going to BOLD on Oct. 15.

“Our first goal is to score, because we haven’t scored on the road yet. We have played very well, especially offensively, in our first two [road] games,” coach Kruse said. “[We got] a long road trip to KMS, and we’re going to have to find a way to be ready to play.”

MCC (4-2) will finish the regular season on its home field, first hosting BOLD (2-4) next Friday at 7 p.m., and will bring in Canby the following week on Oct. 15.

“It’s one game at a time. We play a very physical BOLD team next week, and historically have been really good,” Freeman said. “We know that it’s going to be a battle, and we just want to keep focusing on getting better each week.”