CAPE CENTRAL ROUTS ROUGH RIDERS 48-22

Primarily a return man for the Cape Central football team, junior Chris Allen doesn't get too many opportunities to touch the football, much less, get into the end zone.

But Allen is beginning to make a quite a name for himself as a big-play returner for the Tigers, scoring twice -- off a kickoff and interception -- in Friday's 48-22 homecoming victory over the Roosevelt Rough Riders.

The Tigers, who scored at least 40 points for the third game in a row, improved to 6-1 in their final test before facing Jackson (7-0) next week at Houck Field in district play. Roosevelt fell to 3-4.

After Roosevelt tied the scored 8-8 on a fourth-and-three run by Damon Honeywood with 5:12 left in the second quarter, Allen took any momentum the Rough Riders had by returning the ensuing kickoff 88-yards up the middle of the field.

"I just ran through the middle like coach told me," said Allen. "Last week I was jitter-bugging around so I just ran straight through the middle, made a few jukes, ran as hard as I could and good things happened."

Frank McGinty's pass to Ross Bennett put the Tigers ahead 16-8 with 5:00 until halftime, but the Tigers were hardly through. Central scored two more times before halftime to take a 29-8 lead as bad field position haunted the Rough Riders throughout the entire game.

Besides Allen's kickoff return, kicker Mitch Ogles had a big night booting the ball deep in Roosevelt territory on kickoffs and he also dribbled two successful onside kicks.

"We thought if we executed well on the kicking game we could make things happen," said Central coach Jerry Dement. "Chris' return was big and (kicker) Mitch Ogles and the rest of the kickoff team did an excellent job. (Ogles) placed the ball deep in the corner where we wanted it and our coverage was excellent. We've got a lot of speed on that team."

Tatum Kitchen's interception of Roosevelt quarterback Travis Gordon set up a short scoring drive, ending on a 6-yard run by Justin Blackmon at 2:03. Blackmon scored thre times, totaling 126 yards on 18 carries.

Allen sprung into action just before the half with another scoring return -- his fourth of the season. This time he hauled in an interception at the Roosevelt 29 and scored easily with 1:10 left in the half. Jeff Michel's kick made the score 29-8.

"Chris had a fine night, both defensively and on special teams," Dement said. "We're really pleased with him. He's had a good year on the returns."

The Tigers didn't let up any in the third quarter, scoring on their first two drives of the second half, nearly 30 seconds apart.

Blackmon scored on a spectacular 26-yard run to start the second half scoring, turning an potential 8-yard loss into an unbelievable score. Blackmon broke free of several tacklers on the play and reversed his field to find the end zone.

"That was a tremendous run," Dement said. "You won't see a more beautiful singular effort than that one. He's a quality back."

After converting their second successful onside kick, the Tigers' Emmanuel Harris scored on a 28-yard scamper to make the score 41-8.

"They lined up and had nobody there so we thought we'd put the nail in them real quick," Dement said of the onside kicks. "We got another chance to put all our young kids in."

Demarco Williams ended the Tigers scoring with a 26-yard reception of a McGinty screen pass. Williams powered into the end zone with the help of several teammates pushing on his back to make the score 48-8 after Michel's PAT.

McGinty had a fantastic night, completing 8-of-10 passes for 108 yards and the TD.

Roosevelt scored twice in the fourth quarter against Central's reserves.

"It was an easy game, but I didn't like the way we played to start," Allen said. "Offensively we had a slow start, but we got the momentum going, came back and did what we're supposed to do."