SportsNovember 14, 2015
Cape Central football team advances to third straight final four
Central combined for 452 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in defeating Affton 54-28 in a Class 4 quarterfinal Friday at Tiger Stadium.
When Cape Central football coach Nathan Norman talks about his team, it sounds a lot like a broken record.
Attitude and effort, playing assignment football, getting better as position players -- they're monotonous to the audience, but not to Norman, whose fundamental approach has positioned the Tigers near their apex.
Central combined for 452 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in defeating Affton 54-28 in a Class 4 quarterfinal Friday at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers have won seven of their last eight games, and they advanced to the final four for the third straight season, something that's never been done in the history of the program.
"It's a great feat for these seniors. I'm just super proud of my coaches, all my kids, and it's just a great feat, a great honor," said Norman, whose team will face top-ranked Webb City in the semifinals. "We still have unfinished business. That's what we're preaching."
Central (9-4) was led by sophomore running back Aaron Harris, who finished with 209 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Harris had a 40-yard burst on the game's first play from scrimmage before Christian Mitchell carried it into the end zone two plays later from 1 yard out. Bennett Osburn tacked on the extra point to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 10:57 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tigers never trailed and added to their lead later in the period when quarterback Kway'Chon Chisom scored on a 3-yard run, capping a 19-yard drive that was set up by a fumble recovery at the Cougars' 19-yard line. Affton (11-2) turned the ball over three times, and Central found the end zone on each opportunity.
"We're very happy that we got ahead of them like we did because I sure would have hated to get behind them and have to stop their run game," Norman said. "I think we got them out of their offensive game plan a little bit because of turnovers and early scores, and I'm glad I talk every week in the playoffs that it comes down to execution, turnovers and playing with great effort and attitude. Tonight, that was the difference.
"They turned the ball over. We didn't, and we got ahead and didn't put the ball on the ground and were able to seal the deal."
Quarterback DaVontae Burse connected with Nick Brown on a 40-yard TD pass at the 1:41 mark of the first quarter, trimming the Cougars' deficit to 14-7, but Harris responded with his first score of the game on the ensuing drive. He found paydirt on a 6-yard run with 8:36 left in the second quarter before another fumble led to a 6-yard run by Chisom that extended the Tigers' lead to 26-7 with 6:17 remaining in the quarter.
Affton answered with a 73-yard drive that was capped by an 11-yard run by Burse with 2:12 remaining before halftime, but Harris accounted for 56 yards rushing on the Tigers' next possession, a 65-yard scoring drive that he concluded himself on a 6-yard run with 42 seconds remaining before the break.
Norman said countering the blitz was a point of emphasis for his offense this week in practice.
"Our kids did a phenomenal job, our linemen, of picking up that blitz, and our running backs -- I told them, 'I don't care if you have big plays, touchdowns. I want first downs, ball control,'" Norman said. "They did a heck of a job of sticking with the game plan, hitting the hole, getting positive yards."
The Tigers led 33-14 at halftime. Harris racked up 155 yards in the first half, averaging 9.7 yards per carry.
"He's very gifted physically, and then the positive thing for us is he's a great kid," Norman said about Harris. "He works hard. He's humble. He's a team player, and he's coachable. He's got everything you want. I felt like our coaches did a good job this week of backing off him a little bit in practice, and he was fresh."
Harris was limited this week in practice after dealing with tightness in his hamstring but wasn't slowed down by the injury on Friday.
"They rested me well, and today I felt great," Harris said. "I was following by offensive line and my fullback. They did a great job."
Trevon McClard intercepted Burse on the second play from scrimmage in the second half, and Harris scored three plays later on a 4-yard run. After the Cougars were forced to punt on a three-and-out, Al Young capped a three-play drive with a 27-yard TD run to push the Tigers' lead to 47-14 at the 8:42 mark of the third quarter. Young finished with a modest 94 yards on 12 touches.
"It wasn't a huge night statistically for Al Young, but without him, we wouldn't have gotten here or won this game because they had three defenders over two receivers. And the reason for that was Al Young," Norman said. "That allowed the run game to be a little better than normal."
A turnover on downs led to a 72-yard scoring drive that was capped by 9-yard run by Trent Leimer, pushing Central's lead to 54-14 and initiating a running clock until Burse connected with Tyler Burrus on a 9-yard TD pass on the final play of the third quarter.
Burse added a 56-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and wrapped up the night with 147 yards on 12 rushes. He finished 9-of-18 passing with 140 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Chisom finished with 14 rushes for 86 yards and was 2-of-4 passing for 18 yards.
Looking ahead
The Tigers will take on an all-too-familiar opponent at 1 p.m. Saturday when the five-time defending state champion Cardinals come to town.
Central's season ended against Webb City in 2013 in a 46-0 decision on the road. The two teams met again in 2014 when the Cardinals defeated the Tigers 48-21 in the state championship at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Webb City has won 41 straight games dating back to Nov. 6, 2013, and is currently ranked No. 23 in USA Today's national high school football poll.
But none of those figures should intimidate the Tigers, who jumped out to a surprising 14-0 lead in last year's state championship before the Cardinals answered with 27 consecutive points.
"They're high school kids just like them," Norman said. "Our kids aren't scared to play them. They're excited to play them. They're just high school kids just like our kids. What they do so well is they're very well-coached. We like to think we're coached well, too, but their kids very rarely make mistakes. They're always in the right position, and they're great tacklers. They do their job. It sounds so easy and simple, but it's the truth. They follow through with their jobs, and that's why they're good.
"... If we come out and do our jobs, we've got Al Young. We've got Kway'Chon Chisom. We've got a good line, a good defense. We can stop them. We can score, and we'll see what happens."
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Norman also believes it's an advantage for his team to host the semifinal matchup. Webb City will travel 337 miles east to Cape Girardeau.
"I think we'll have a packed house. I think everybody in Southeast Missouri will come," Norman said. "I don't know that they'll care about Cape Central, but they want to see Webb City. So we'll take it.
"We ought to say, 'You're required to wear orange to get in if you're from Southeast Missouri.'"
Affton 7 7 6 8 -- 28
Cape Central 14 19 21 0 -- 54
First quarter
CC -- Christian Mitchell 1 run (Bennett Osburn kick), 10:57
CC -- Kway'Chon Chisom 3 run (Osburn kick), 4:36
A -- Nick Brown 43 pass from DaVontae Burse (John Rolwes kick), 1:41
Second quarter
CC -- Aaron Harris 6 run (Osburn kick), 8:36
CC -- Chisom 6 run (pass failed), 6:17
A -- Burse 11 run (Rolwes kick), 2:12
CC -- Harris 6 run (Osburn kick), 0:42
Third quarter
CC -- Harris 4 run (Osburn kick), 10:23
CC -- Al Young 27 run (Osburn kick), 8:42
CC -- Trent Leimer 9 run (Osburn kick), 3:24
A -- Tyler Burrus 9 pass from Burse (pass failed), 0:00
Fourth quarter
A -- Burse 56 run (Burse run), 7:38
A CC
First downs 10 24
Rushes-yards 29-224 64-452
Passing yards 140 18
Passes 9-18-1 2-4-0
Punts-average 2-40 2-30
Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0
Penalties-yards 11-48 4-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Affton, Burse 12-147, Jordan Siegel 9-54, Burrus 4-13, Trevor Stiefvater 3-11, Terrell Van 1-(-1); Cape Central, Harris 22-209, Chisom 14-86, Young 11-79, Felawn Smith 10-51, Leimer 2-14, Mitchell 5-13.
PASSING -- Affton, Burse 9-18-140-1, Van 0-1-0-0; Cape Central, Chisom 2-4-18-0.
RECEIVING -- Affton, Brown 3-75, Burrus 2-22, John Million 2-22, Stiefvater 1-16, Evan Schucardt 1-5; Cape Central, Young 1-15, Austin Parker 1-3.
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