With his team behind 66-12 to St. Joseph Christian at halftime, Hardin-Central coach Kirk Thacker made the curious decision to continue playing.

Earlier in the week, in a conversation with St. Joseph Christian coach Mark Juhl, Thacker said he wanted to play the entire game, regardless of the halftime score.

Thus, with a running clock, the second half began and Christian wasted no time scoring again. Although the Bulldogs quickly answered with a score of their own, Thacker had a change of heart about playing out the game. Hardin-Central's season ended with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter and Christian on top 74-20.

"I think they'd had enough," said Juhl. "They were ready to move on to basketball season."

The night began ominously for Hardin-Central. Christian's sophomore cornerback, Matt Dahlgren, intercepted a Jacob Harris pass on the first possession and took it in for a score.

Christian forced a punt on Hardin-Central's ensuing possession and promptly scored again on a 44 -yard run by running back Daniel Gregory.

Momentum shifted briefly in Hardin-Central's favor on its next drive, as the Bulldogs exposed a somewhat shaky Lion pass defense and marched down the field to close Christian's advantage to 16-6.

"We were a little bit average against the pass," Juhl said. "With the guys we have, we can cover better than we did at times tonight."

Juhl said the team misses senior cornerback Dylan Aebersold, who has missed playing time with a partial MCL tear. He hopes Aebersold will be ready to return next week for the semifinal game against Miami (Amoret).

But even if Hardin-Central exposed a weakness in Christian's secondary, there appeared to be no weakness on offense for the Lions.

Christian spent the remainder of the first quarter running roughshod over a leaky Bulldog defense. Along with Dahlgren and Gregory, quarterback Luke Mathes, and running backs David Welchert and Jordan Fjellman all joined the scoring parade. When the clock wound down on the first quarter, Christian was in control 50-6.

Christian (9-2) travels to Miami (8-1) next Saturday for a semifinal match. The other semifinal pits Stanberry (10-1) against Mound City (9-1).