Cape Central football team tagged with first loss

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Austin Martin swooped in from the punter's right and blocked the kick, and after the Tigers batted it toward the end zone, Garan Evans fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown Friday.

The Tigers were in business against St. Charles West in a battle of unbeaten teams.

"We blocked that punt, it was huge," Central coach Nathan Norman said. "Our kids, I could feel it, we thought we were going to win the game."

The score cut Central's deficit to three points early in the fourth quarter.

But the Warriors responded with an 11-play drive for a touchdown to quell the Tigers' rally and emerged with the 31-14 victory.

"They had tons of momentum after that play, and it was very important for us to get down the field and get a touchdown," West quarterback Kyle Anders said about the blocked punt.

West (6-0) entered halftime with a 17-0 lead after dominating the opening half. The Warriors gained 213 yards to 36 for the Tigers in the first half. Anders went 6 of 7 passing for 112 yards, and the Tigers were fortunate to recover two fumbles to slow down the Warriors' offense.

Central (4-1) finally gained some traction late in the third quarter. The Tigers faced fourth-and-3 from their 27. Chris Martin took a handoff and broke tackles at the line of scrimmage. He busted through and streaked loose for a 73-yard touchdown as time expired in the third quarter.

"Everybody was ready to go," Chris Martin said about the Tigers' second-half energy. "Nobody likes to lose. We came out saying we're not losing this half. We knew we were better than them. We believed it. We came out and tried to show it."

Central's defense then forced a three-and-out, which brought on the Warriors' punter. The Tigers went for the block, and Austin Martin used his big paws to swat the kick. The ball bounced into the air and the Tigers slapped it back toward the end zone. Evans dived on top of it in the end zone to cut Central's deficit to 17-14.

"I felt it got us fired up a little bit, but apparently not enough to push us through the fourth quarter," Austin Martin said.

Central quarterback Christian Cavaness said the Tigers failed to wisely use the momentum from the blocked punt and touchdown.

"We were all hyped up on the sideline, but I think we got too hyped up thinking it was going to be easy from there on in," he said. "I don't think we were focused on the basic things we needed to do to keep that momentum that we got. I think we were wanting to do so much that we couldn't do anything."

The Warriors' offense churned out yards on the ensuing drive. Anders completed three passes, including a 2-yarder for the score and a 24-14 lead with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left in the game.

"That's part of hey, they're a good football team," Norman said about the drive. "That's why they're 6-0 and we're 4-1. That's what a good football team does. ... They put together a long drive, didn't make any mistakes and scored."

Anders, a sophomore, picked apart Central's defense most of the night. He finished 11 of 17 for 159 yards and a score. His favorite target was Ryan Finders, who caught six passes for 103 yards.

"Me and Ryan were hooking up all night," Anders said. "He is a great wide receiver and he was beating his guy. And also my offensive line was blocking for the running backs very well."

The key to Anders' success was his ability to fake a handoff to buy time and get the defense to bite on the run.

"Because of how they run the ball so well, we had to focus on stopping that," Norman said. "Therefore, you're going to leave something open in the secondary. They knew that. That's what they did. That's part of it. And their quarterback and their receivers, they were hitting. They didn't drop balls right in their hands, and the quarterback did a nice job putting it to them."

Dropped passes plagued the Tigers early in the contest. Cavaness ended up completing just two of his 11 attempts in the game.

"It's always frustrating when it doesn't come down because I know we make all of those plays in practice," Cavaness said. "We're used to making those plays. You've got to look past it as quick as possible."

Three of the first four passes Cavaness threw were dropped.

"That's tough," Norman said. "You only have so many opportunities in football, and you can't waste them. That's what we try to teach our kids. Unfortunately tonight, they did. They wasted some opportunities and you just can't do that against a good football team."

Central's defense slowed down the Warriors in the third quarter. West's only punt that it got off came in the third.

"They were blitzing a lot of guys on third down, getting some pressure on me," Anders said about the second half. "I'll give them a lot of credit for that. Their linebackers were really stepping up."

West iced the win after stopping the Tigers on fourth-and-16 from the Central 23 with 2:53 left in the game. The Warriors used three plays to punch in another score.

Both teams entered undefeated, something they both used as motivation leading up to the game.

"I think we played it up to the point where we got over-excited and then we just didn't run with it," Austin Martin said.

Anders said: "We really wanted to beat them. They put it on us last year."

The Tigers will return home in Week 6 to host Poplar Bluff, which fell to Farmington 45-7 on Friday.

Scoring Summary

Central 0 0 7 7 -- 14

West 14 3 0 14 -- 31

First Quarter

W -- Marcus Taylor 9 run (Ryan McCrum kick), 6:16

W -- Austin Rugraff 3 run (McCrum kick), 1"54

Second Quarter

W -- McCrum 30 FG, 4:38

Third Quarter

C -- Chris Martin 73 run (Calvin Lovig kick), :00

Fourth Quarter

C -- Garan Evans block punt recovery in end zone (Lovig kick), 10:02

W -- Tyler Hanneke 2 pass from Kyle Anders (McCrum kick), 4:40

W -- Auggie Loschen 7 run (McCrum kick), 1:38

Team Statistics

First downs (Cenral-West) 7 19

Rushes-yards 24-157 45-206

Passing yards 17 159

Passes 2-11-0 11-17-0

Fumbles-Lost 3-3 2-2

Penalties-Yards 3-35 8-76

Individual Statistics

RUSHING -- Central, Jacob Campbell 2-1, Mikey Jones 9-58, Tae Jenkins 2-(-8), Austin Martin 3-16, Chris Martin 5-95, Christian Cavaness 3-(-5). West, Ahren Bohnanon 12-52, Austin Rugraff 9-51, Marcus Taylor 9-73, Kyle Anders 5-(-10), Auggie Loschen 7-41, Sam Mosley 1-0, Team 2-(-3).

PASSING -- Central, Christian Cavaness 2-11-17-0. West, Kyle Anders 11-17-159-0.

RECEIVING -- Central, Jacob Campbell 1-18, Tae Jenkins 1-(-1). West, Ryan Finders 6-103, Auggie Loschen 1-5, Marcus Taylor 1-5, Tyler Hanneke 3-48.