Cape Central defense leads the way in semifinal win

Some timely plays in the first half made the difference in the Cape Central Tigers 21-6 win over the St. Mary’s South Side Dragons on Friday.

After both defenses got a stop to begin the game, the Tigers began driving on their second drive before being faced with a 3rd-and-3 at the Dragons 18.

Following a timeout, the Tigers came out in a different formation, one that featured running back Zai’Aire Thomas under center and Cape Central alternated between Thomas and Boyd taking snaps before Boyd found the end zone from a yard out to make it 7-0 Tigers.

“It was just something that we saw that we put in,” Tigers coach Kent Gibbs said. “We thought we may need a little something extra and we got it where they can both run it. That particular time it worked well.”

It wasn’t just the offense creating momentum for the Tigers.

On the ensuing defensive possession, the Dragons quarterback was able to get to the outside and to everyone in the stadium it appeared he was going to find the end zone.

Seemingly out of nowhere a pack of Tigers swarmed to the ball and punched it free to give Cape Central possession at their own 18.

“You just saw all of our defensive kids flying to the football,” Gibbs said. “Whether it was up front, or a linebacker or someone in the secondary coming back to knock down passes, we just flew at the football all night long.”

With the crowd into it, Boyd would strike once again, this time from 31-yards out to push the Tigers lead to 14-0.

“It’s important (to capitalize) when playing great teams,” Gibbs said. “It sets things up the rest of the way and we did what we had to do.”

Cape Central’s defense held out for the remainder of the half and the Tigers took a 14-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The halftime break didn’t crush any momentum the Tigers had as the Cape Central defense recovered another fumble as the Dragons were driving.

“I just think it was their aggressiveness and their mentality of going one play at a time,” Gibbs said. “We talk a lot about one play at a time, forget what happens and move on. I think they did a great job of that.”

After a Dragons score to make it 14-6 late in the third, Cape’s defense came up big again five minutes into the fourth quarter, forcing a third fumble to set up their offense at their own 49.

The Tigers offense rewarded their defense’s hard work once again with a 10-yard touchdown run by Zai’Aire Thomas to make it 21-6 Cape Central with just two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

“We’re lucky to have the two running backs we got,” Gibbs said. “KeyShawn kind of shouldered the load because of some things they were doing but getting (Zai’Aire) the opportunity there at the end was nice.”

With the win, Cape Central (8-3) will host the Farmington Knights in the Class 5 District 1 Championship game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10 at Cape Central High School.

“Second year in a row and I don’t know how many people thought we could do it two years in a row,” Gibbs said. “It’s going to be nice and I hope we get a big home crowd.”