MOUND CITY, Mo. - Even after trouncing their rivals, Mound City's players kept the celebration humble.

Clearly the previous loss to Worth County refocused the defending state champions.

Gage Rosier ran for four first-half touchdowns on his way to 252 yards, and Mound City shut out Worth County in a 52-0 victory in Friday night's 8-man quarterfinal at Ceglinski Field. After losing 22-20 to Worth County during the regular season, Mound City played like a team intent on another run to the Show-Me Bowl.

"If we kicked that off again right now, there is no way on the Earth we could beat them 52-0 again. They're too good," said Mound City coach Brian Messer, now 23-1 with the Panthers. "I respect them, and I don't know how it happened. I knew we were prepared, and we just wanted to equal their intensity. I thought that would give us a chance.

"But I never dreamed we'd be able to have the success we did."

Worth County's loss to Stanberry in last week's district finale set up the unlikely first-round matchup between the perennial powers.

While Mound City (9-1) won five straight after the loss to Worth County and captured the district title, the Tigers faltered into the district runner-up spot after their first loss came in the regular season's final week. Those results gave Mound City an early shot at redemption.

In the regular season matchup, Worth County (9-2) limited Rosier to just 118 yards on 24 carries.

He needed only seven to eclipse that mark this time around, three of which went for scores. Rosier's eighth attempt went 70 yards for another score, and the Panthers made it 4-for-4 at that point on 2-point conversions for a 32-0 lead.

The offensive line of Willy Walker, Kyler VanSchoiack and Nathan Brickey made Rosier's running look simple.

"That first game, Worth County's line pretty much dominated ours, pushed us back," said Rosier, who took only 21 handoffs. "We didn't know what to think; we were kind of shocked. This week they came out focused, and they wanted to prove something. And they did tonight. The holes were wide open."

Worth County produced only 5 yards of offense in the first quarter and buried itself in mistakes.

Even as the points piled up, the Tigers put together three first-half drives reaching the red zone. Two ended in fumbles, the other on downs as Worth County failed to answer each successive Rosier score.

"We killed ourself, a couple of turnovers, a penalty here or there," Worth County coach Chuck Borey said. "That can't happen against a good, quality team like Mound City."

Mound City recorded its fifth - and most impressive - shutout of the season. Worth County's 22 points in the previous matchup easily marked a season high against the Panthers' unit.

This time around, the Tigers managed only 45 yards rushing and committed four turnovers.

Quarterback Zach Harmening finished 8-for-24 for 98 yards with one interception, while Eli Mullock put up 63 yards rushing on 17 carries with one lost fumble.

"Last time, we underestimated how they were a great team," said Mound City defensive end James Schoonover, who recorded six tackles, three for loss, two sacks and two blocked punts before catching two touchdown passes in the second half.

"This time we came out and knew what we had to do. We got it done."

Schoonover's day inauspiciously started with back-to-back offensive offside penalties on third down during Mound City's opening possession. After a sack backed the Panthers into fourth-and-25, they punted away, and Worth County's first possession started in Mound City territory.

But Schoonover sacked Harmening on third down and then blocked his punt on fourth down.

Rosier scored from 12 yards out five plays later then added scoring runs of 32 and 64 on two of Mound City's next four plays to give the Panthers a 24-0 lead with 1 minute, 28 seconds left in the first quarter.