After an unsatisfactory meeting in Lake Forest with Leaf executives, whose own ranks have been cut by downsizing, the town focused on the parent company in Finland. Since the closing announcement, Centralians have rallied around the PayDay plant. The newspaper also sponsored essay and poster contests for children on the theme "Why Huhtamaki Oy should spare Centralia's candy factory." “I think we have a little more, but that’s me being biased."The loss of jobs would be awful, but people take losing PayDay personally," said Mike Jones, a reporter for the Centralia Morning Sentinel newspaper, which last month published a 24-page special section called "Please Save Our Jobs" and donated half the advertising proceeds to the campaign to keep PayDay in town. “There’s a lot of pride within (that) program,” Douglas said after the Blue Devils’ first non-holiday tournament trip to Centralia since the 1971-72 season. Like Blue Devil Gym, the Orphans highlight their history where guests can easily see it. Quincy ranks fourth.Īs he was exiting the gym, Douglas caught a glance at a digital all-time win counter in the lobby that was immediately updated after the game. 2,302 in the history of Centralia, the nation’s all-time winningest high-school program. They took advantage of that on both sides of the ball.” I’m not saying our kids didn’t fight - I just don’t think we were the smartest in the second half. “Therein lies the disappointment (because we) know we’re capable of doing better. “I know we’re better than that,” said Douglas, whose team travels to Rock Island Alleman on Tuesday for a Western Big 6 Conference contest. Centralia scored on 17 of its 27 second-half possessions, including its last seven. With the offense struggling, the defense could not get stops. The Blue Devils, who received 11 points from senior guard Jeremiah Talton and freshman guard Bradley Longcor III, shot 28 percent (7 of 25) from the field in the second half. On the other end, Quincy could not consistently hit shots. “The second one … we’ll let him have that one because it was a contested shot deep in the corner. I don’t know how we could let that happen,” O’Brien said. The 3-pointer ended a possession where Centralia took 41 seconds off the clock. Three possessions later, with the Orphans’ holding a 42-39 lead, Wilmoth splashed a contested trey from the same spot with 1:33 left. Junior forward Koby Wilmoth broke a 37-all tie with 4:14 left in the game after burying a 3-pointer from the left corner. “I told them that they hadn’t outplayed us per se - they just hit shots. “I told them to make shots,” said Bennett, a 1988 Pittsfield graduate and the son of legendary Saukees coach Dave Bennett. What halftime adjustments did Centralia make? “We didn’t really show much fight, much hustle at all. “When we got punched in the mouth early in the second half, we kind of put our heads down and let it happen,” O’Brien said. Quincy finished the frame with four turnovers - one more than its first-half total - and went the last 3 minutes, 47 seconds with two points. The streak eventually ballooned to 19-6 at the end of the quarter, giving them a 35-32 advantage. Trailing 26-16 at intermission, the Orphans (6-0) opened the second half on an 11-2 run that featured points on four of their first five possessions. | Photo courtesy Randy List/Centralia Morning SentinelĬentralia, ranked 10th in Class 3A, exploited that. We just didn’t match that energy in the second half.” Quincy High School junior forward Sam Mulherin, left, looks to score while being defended by Centralia’s Koby Wilmoth during Saturday night’s game in Centralia, Ill. It showed on the defensive end, which turned into a lot of offense for them as well. “Our energy was at an all-time high in the first half, and they brought their level of intensity up. “They made some adjustments,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. Quincy simply could not match the intensity in its 51-42 loss, snapping a season-opening four-game winning streak. Playing off the energy from a passionate crowd, the Orphans turned up the pressure in the second half. Like its counterpart, Centralia proved to be an inhospitable host. “Certainly,” Centralia coach Lee Bennett offered, “this is more of a wonderland for us than Blue Devil Gymnasium.” All that is why Quincy is considered a “Winner’s Wonderland” for its guests. I definitely think that’s how teams feel when they visit our gym.” “They were saying how nice it was and how big it was. “Everyone was looking around everywhere,” O’Brien said. Reid O’Brien had visited Centralia’s Arthur Trout Arena before, so the Quincy High School junior guard quickly glanced toward his teammates when they first entered the venerable facility on Saturday afternoon to witness their initial reaction.
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