For Centralia boys golf, state is better when you’re part of a team.

The Panthers want to qualify a full team for state this season and think the primary five it has will have a good shot at accomplishing this goal.

Head coach John Finlay said qualifying as a team is such a big goal this season because the kids are determined to see this happen. Centralia didn’t send a boy golfer to state last year but had Travis Brooks miss qualification by one stroke. 

“My guys will want to win conference and want to win districts,” Finlay said. “If we can win districts or place second in districts, we get our team to state. I’ve got kids that are good golfers that would sacrifice themselves being great that day if we can all be really good that day just to get to state. They want that experience of having four or five guys down there at state, and all the fun they’re going to have.”

Finlay said his kids are “as amped for their buddies as they are for themselves,” and those Panthers that have competed at state before want others to share the experience this year. Cullen Bennett has qualified multiple teams and has medaled at state before, and Carter Moss has also played at state. 

Bennett, Moss, Brooks, freshman Brady Schultz and sophomore Braden Gaughan are the team’s top five, Finlay said, which took some time to figure out this year due to the amount of golfers in the program. There are 25 kids out for golf this year after Finlay said the most he’s had before this has been 22.

Centralia played a “really tough” and humbling course at Eagle Knoll Golf Club in Hartsburg for the Southern Boone Tournament, Finlay said, and his top five rose to the challenge in the team’s fourth-place finish. Brooks finished 10th with an 81, Bennett was 18th with an 87 and Moss was 20th with an 88 to all medal at the course Centralia played districts last year while the younger Schultz and Gaughan posted a 91 and 94.

“Cullen Bennett, Carter Moss and Travis Brooks are all guys that can all lead us on any given day,” Finlay said. “Brady Schultz and then Braden Gaughan is the fifth guy. They separated themselves a little bit from the pack.”

Out of the four or five quads and few tournaments Centralia has played, as of April 17, Finlay said the Panthers had a good showing at a scramble (pairs) tournament at New Bloomfield since Bennett and Moss finished fourth and Centralia was fifth out of 16 teams. Finlay said the best Centralia has played “as a team” was at its home Centralia Invitational on April 16, which the Panthers won with a score of 327 in the 18-hole tournament.

Finlay said Centralia has also played some of the best teams in its conference at Norwoods Golf Course in Hannibal, including South Shelby, Palmyra and Monroe City, showing why doing well in the Clarence Cannon Conference will prepare the Panthers well for districts at Norwoods and state.

“South Shelby, Palmyra, us and Monroe City all probably play, if we all play well that day, 12 strokes apart,” Finlay said. “All you need is somebody to make a mistake, and you’re going to fall off pretty quick. Whoever wins conference is going to play very well that day. All those schools are in our district as well.”