CAMP POINT, Ill. — No one player defines the Camp Point Central Panthers as they have built themselves into a Class 1A powerhouse year in and year out.

That said, Elijah Genenbacher personified the Panther football mentality for the four years he wore the black and gold as one of the best players in program history.

“Obviously, (Genenbacher) set a great standard,” said Panthers head coach Brad Dixon. “We’re excited about seeing our guys step up. We’ve got some great leadership and we want to try to raise the level of everybody else.”

With Genenbacher now at QU and several other key contributors graduated, Central feels like there is still plenty of talent in the program and is ready to host the season opener on Friday, Aug. 29 against West Central.

After all, Central has qualified for the postseason in every non-coronavirus season since 2008.

“We try to pride our program on not just riding the best talent,” said Dixon. “We want to be consistent all across the board, freshmen through senior every year, and be competitive. Obviously, really good guys are going to come throught the program, but then they’re going to graduate We don’t want to be up and down based on who’s there.”

One of those players is senior defensive lineman and fullback Kadin Niekamp, who had been Genenbacher’s partner in crime on defense the past several years.

“I’m going to try to call the defense kind of like Elijah did,” said Niekamp. “Kind of helping people know what to do with their spots in the game. In the past if they had any questions, they would go to Elijah but I hope they come to me know this year.”

The Panthers have several other senior leaders it can turn to, such as running back/defensive back Curtis Rigg and running back/linebacker Zack Wear.

Central also has a pair of sophomores that made a huge impact last year in Kolin Bockhold and Kale Niekamp.

“I told the guys last week that people expect us to figure it out,” said Dixon. “You know, it doesn’t matter who we graduate. Everyone expects us to be one of the last teams playing in Illinois, which is a good place to be. Obviously you don’t want it the other way where you’re hoping to just make the playoffs.”

Dixon’s squad will face plenty of competition within the Western Illinois Valley Conference, especially with a rapidly improving Brown County team that has a defense that can match Central.

The WIVC North Division also includes a high-flying Routt Catholic team, as well as a Unity-Payson team bringing back senior quarterback Sawyer Allen.

The Panthers also play three strong opponents from the WIVC North — Greenfield-Northwestern, Carrollton and West Central.

“That’s why the WIVC has had a lot of success in the playoffs,” said Dixon. “We put a team in the state championship game quite a bit just because of how prepared our conference make us. We feel like when we play teams out of our conference, we’re going to be well prepared based upon what we’ve had to play all year.”

Although Central fell short of repeating as state champions, the Panthers finished 11-2 and advanced to the Class 1A semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Althoff Catholic.

The Panthers had been in the Class 1A state championship game the previous two seasons, winning it all in 2023.

“Last year we came up short to Belleville Althoff, a heck of a team,” said Niekamp. “They rushed around 500 yards on us. They were really good. I think if we don’t run into somebody like that this year, we have the potential to go all the way.”