Cape Central football team shakes up conference with win over Poplar Bluff

A boisterous locker room was exactly what Al Young wanted to see.

Driven by last week's upset loss to Sikeston, the Cape Central football team bounced back with a 42-23 victory over Poplar Bluff on Friday, and for the first time this season, the Tigers found a reason to celebrate at home.

"This is a different locker room. Usually it's quiet, nobody's talking," Young said. "This win will help us a lot. I see this team having fun. I see that they like to win."

Central (2-2, 1-1 SEMO North Conference) used a 21-point third quarter to break open a 14-all tie. After Tigers quarterback Kway'Chon Chisom threw an interception on the second play of the quarter, he atoned for his mishap by picking off Mules quarterback Tristen Francisco on the next play, and Aaron Harris bruised his way into the end zone from 22 yards out three plays later, giving Central the lead for good at 21-14 with 9:42 left in the quarter.

Chisom racked up 110 of the Tigers' 227 rushing yards on 11 carries, scoring on a 53-yard run at the 4:53 mark of the first quarter and on a 41-yard run inside the final minute of the game.

Central coach Nathan Norman referred to Chisom as a "top-notch competitor."

"He wants to win," Norman said. "If we had 11 with that kind of will to win, I wouldn't have to talk about it. I'm proud of him for the way he competes, and obviously he's got to get better in other areas. ... He puts us in a position to win, and that's a quarterback's job."

Chisom also finished with 109 yards on 3-of-4 passing, including a 75-yard strike to Young that extended the Tigers' lead to 28-14 with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter. Young had been held to three rushes for 19 yards prior to the play but was reminded by the coaching staff to stay patient and wait for the play to develop.

"In one play, we just found it," Young said. "The defender fell down. ... I only had one man to beat, so it had me rolling. Chisom just stepped up.

"He finally got some heart to throw the ball, and it worked right there."

Central's Blake Harris is congratulated by coach Nathan Norman after scoring a touchdown against Poplar Bluff during the third quarter Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

Poplar Bluff (3-1, 1-1) responded by driving the ball to the Central 11-yard line, but on first-and-10 Blake Harris intercepted Francisco's pass at the 2 and returned it 98 yards, pushing the Tigers' lead to 35-14 with 4:18 to go in the quarter.

"We just kept anticipating the pass, just kept looking for it. We knew that we were going to catch one of them eventually," Harris said. "When I caught it, I just saw straight end zone. My eyes got big. It was an exciting moment for me."

On the next possession, Francisco capped an eight-play, 66-yard drive with a 20-yard run at the 2:20 mark, and the Tigers mishandled a pitch for a 22-yard loss that was recovered in the end zone on their next possession, resulting in a safety that cut their lead to 35-23 heading into the final quarter.

But when the Mules drove inside the 10 and got a new set of downs at the Tigers' 5, the Central defense came up with a key goal-line stand that ended the threat and turned the ball over on downs.

"The play wasn't really anybody's fault. It was just a little bit off, and we mishandled the pitch," Norman said about the safety. "We kicked off. They had a short field, and we stopped them. And it was against a team that's hard to defend. Hats off to Bluff. They're very well-coached. They make you defend the entire field, sideline to sideline. They do a good job going vertical and with underneath routes. They're tough."

Despite throwing three interceptions, Francisco torched the Central secondary for 251 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-40 passing, including a 9-yard pass to Tyson Cox that tied the game at 7-all with 1:43 remaining in the first quarter.

"He does a phenomenal job. He's got great feet," Norman said about Francisco, who also had a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ross Rushin that tied the game at 14-all before halftime. "He reminds me of Archie Manning. He doesn't look like much, but the kid can play. He can run. He's elusive, and boy, he's got a nice touch on the ball."

Trevon McClard also had a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter that gave the Tigers a 14-7 lead. Central never trailed in the game and received its first perfect PAT outing from new kicker Bennett Osburn, who was 6-of-6 and averaged 28.6 yards on five punts.

Central's Aaron Harris celebrates with teammates Casey Vaughn (77) and Jacob Holter after scoring a touchdown against Poplar Bluff during the third quarter Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

Norman said he was pleased with the way his secondary responded throughout the game.

"It's all about reading your keys, and they know. When they got beat, they knew why," Norman said. "... You don't ever want to see kids get beat, but when they did, they realized it and accepted the fact and said, 'Hey, I screwed up. Let's go. We've got to move on and play.'"

Aaron Harris finished with 15 rushes for 69 yards, while the Mules were held to 125 total yards on the ground. Francisco led Poplar Bluff with 92 rushing yards.

Cox had a game-high 99 receiving yards on six catches, and Rushin contributed 85 yards on four grabs.

The Tigers, who play the rest of their schedule within the confines of Cape County, will take on Ladue Horton Watkins next week, and Norman said the team is focused on taking each week as it comes.

"You only get one shot," Norman said. "You'd like to have the Sikeston game back, but you can't. That's life. We screwed it up, so we're moving forward and taking it one week at a time.

"The conference is wide open. Every game is going to be a nail-biter. It's going to come down to turnovers each game and who can control the ball."

Poplar Bluff 7 7 9 0 -- 23

Cape Central 7 7 21 7 -- 42

PB CC

First downs 16 8

Rushes-yards 27-125 45-227

Passing yards 251 109

Passes 20-40-3 3-4-1

Punts-average 2-25.5 5-28.6

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 3-20 8-70

First quarter

CC -- Kway'Chon Chisom 53 run (Bennett Osburn kick), 4:38

PB -- Tyson Cox 9 pass from Tristen Francisco (Adam Vincent kick), 1:43

Second quarter

CC -- Trevon McClard 1 run (Osburn kick), 10:15

PB -- Ross Rushin 12 pass from Francisco (Vincent kick), 5:16

Third quarter

CC -- Aaron Harris 22 run (Osburn kick), 9:42

CC -- Al Young 75 pass from Chisom (Osburn kick), 6:26

CC -- Blake Harris 98 interception return (Osburn kick), 4:18

PB -- Francisco 20 run (Vincent kick), 2:20

PB -- Safety, 0:05

Fourth quarter

CC -- Chisom 41 run (Osburn kick), 0:32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Poplar Bluff, Francisco 14-92, Dustin Gatewood 9-21, RaShawn McCain 2-5, Zane Foust 1-4, Jerrid Moore 1-3; Cape Central, Chisom 11-110, Harris 15-69, Tyler Banks 7-25, Young 3-19, Christian Mitchell 3-12, Felawn Smith 2-8, McClard 3-6, Team 1-(-22).

PASSING -- Poplar Bluff, Francisco 20-40-251-3; Cape Central, Chisom 3-4-109-1.

RECEIVING -- Poplar Bluff, Cox 6-99, Rushin 4-85, Moore 8-40, Joe Darlin 2-27; Cape Central, Young 1-75, Blake Harris 1-36, Tevyn Wright-Hunt 1-(-2).