Central football team dismantles De Soto in district opener

The district playoffs couldn't have started any better for the Central Tigers.

The top-seeded Tigers scored 42 points in the first quarter and forced a running clock for the remainder of the game in a 49-14 win over the eighth-seeded De Soto Dragons in the opening round of the Class 4 District 1 playoffs Friday at Tiger Stadium.

"I felt like we dominated every snap of the ball really," Central offensive tackle Jaylen Flye-Sadler said. "The focus in practice is winning. We refuse to take anything less than that, and we will demolish, I repeat, demolish anyone that comes in our way."

The victory moves the state-ranked Tigers (8-2) into next week's district semifinals against the fourth-seeded Sikeston Bulldogs, who routed visiting fifth-seeded Farmington 55-14 on Friday.

"We definitely know they're going to come out a lot better than they did in earlier this season," Central quarterback Peyton Montgomery said about Sikeston, which is currently riding a three-game winning streak. "They're a young team. They're going to be really hungry, and they're not going to give up. We're coming into that game knowing that every game from here on out could be our last."

After Central safety Jalen Reddin intercepted a pass to end De Soto's opening possession, Montgomery connected with Al Young on a 24-yard touchdown pass at the 9:22 mark of the first quarter. Brennan Redinger booted the first of his seven extra points to give Central an early 7-0 lead.

Then the cat got loose.

Central's Braion Owens slips through an opening to run for a touchdown in the first quarter during the first round of the Class 4 District 1 playoffs against De Soto Friday, Oct. 24, 2014 at Central. (Glenn Landberg)

The Dragons (1-9) punted on their next possession before an 11-yard pass from Montgomery to Young set up a 36-yard touchdown run by Montgomery to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead midway through the quarter.

A fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave the ball back to Central, and on the first play from scrimmage, Braion Owens found a huge hole on the left side for a 44-yard touchdown run to give Central a 21-0 lead with 6:10 left in the quarter.

"We were very efficient early," Central coach Nathan Norman said. "We did some nice things. I knew our athleticism and speed would give them trouble, and it did. We executed some things nicely that we didn't necessarily do a lot of this year, as far as different plays."

The Tigers' defense forced a three-and-out, and on the next play from scrimmage, Montgomery ran a play-action pass and connected with a wide-open Andre Statam from 24 yards out, giving Central a 28-0 lead with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter.

"We sold it really good," Montgomery said. "[Statam] ran a good route, got open in the end zone and faked it real nice, so that was a good play that's going to work for us in districts."

Central's Aaron Harris breaks free from De Soto's Noah Boyer on a carry in the fourth quarter during the first round of the Class 4 District 1 playoffs Friday, Oct. 24, 2014 at Central. (Glenn Landberg)

The Tigers scored on four of their first six offensive plays.

"We practiced hard all week and really worked on the little things. We knew we had to take it play by play like we always do, just come out and execute and do like we do in practice," Montgomery said. "The hard work paid off, as you can tell."

Central jumped on another fumble at the Dragons' 5, and three plays later, Owens punched it in from 4 yards out to push the lead to 35-0. After forcing another punt, Montgomery capped off the early rout with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Kway'chon Chisom as the quarter came to an close.

Montgomery finished 4 of 4 passing for 104 yards and three touchdowns, while Owens led the Tigers' ground attack with 4 carries for 51 yards and two scores.

Norman and De Soto coach Doug Baker met at midfield before the start of the second quarter, and the running clock began for the remainder of the game, allowing Central to rest its starters and give its younger players some varsity experience. Typically the clock does not run until a team holds a 35-point lead in the second half.

"You want to play well and you want to win, but you don't want to get anyone hurt," Norman said. "We were able to do that and get our younger kids involved in the game, and that's great for them. They came out, and they competed and played well. It's good to see them get into the game and get some reps."

After De Soto moved the ball into Central's territory for the first time in the second quarter, the Tigers forced a turnover on downs and put together a 10-play, 52-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run by Khane Booker to go up 49-0 at halftime.

The Dragons got on the board with a 42-yard touchdown run by Justin Gibbons at the 8:05 mark of the third quarter. After recovering an onside kick, De Soto added another score on the next play from scrimmage as Zach Smith connected with Lamont Allen on a 46-yard touchdown pass to cut the Tigers' lead to 49-14 with 7:37 remaining in the quarter.

Central limited the Dragons to 58 rushing yards on 25 carries.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to the Bulldogs, who have outscored their last three opponents by a combined score of 105-28.

"They're pretty aggressive. I'll give them that. They're relentless. They flew to the ball," Flye-Sadler said. "What we've got to do is we've got to actually come together and communicate on the line of scrimmage so we can get everybody blocked."

Norman expects to see a different Sikeston team than the one that was trampled 47-7 earlier this season.

"Throw the first game out the window because that doesn't matter now," he said. "We'll both show up Friday night. It's a new game, a new season. Our approach will be just like it's been all year.

"Let's focus on the little things. Let's get better at Cape Central football this week at practice, and let's come out with that same edge that we had Week 3 when we played them."

De Soto 0 0 14 0 -- 14

Central 42 7 0 0 -- 49

First Quarter

C -- Al Young 24 pass from Peyton Montgomery (Brennan Redinger kick), 9:22

C -- Montgomery 36 run (Redinger kick), 6:32

C -- Braion Owens 44 run (Redinger kick), 6:10

C -- Andre Statam 24 pass from Montgomery (Redinger kick), 3:38

C -- Owens 4 run (Redinger kick), 2:20

C -- Kway'chon Chisom 45 pass from Montgomery (Redinger kick), 0:00

Second Quarter

C -- Khane Booker 1 run (Redinger kick), 0:51

Third Quarter

D -- Justin Gibbons 42 run (Mayson Derousse kick), 8:05

D -- Lamont Allen 46 pass from Zach Smith (Derousse kick), 7:37

D C

First downs 8 6

Rushes-Yards 25-58 25-169

Passing yards 101 104

Passes 8-22-1 4-5-1

Punts-Average 4-31.5 1-22

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0

Penalties-Yards 4-18 8-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- De Soto, Gibbons 4-55, Dakota Kent 3-10, Trae Adams 4-8, Matt Zerillo 1-3, Ray Steele 1-3, Natron Thomas 1-0, Brendan Politte 1-(-1), Austin Akers 1-(-2), Allen 2-(-3), Brendan Glaeser 1-(-4), Smith 6-(-11); Central, Owens 4-51, Montgomery 2-31, Booker 8-28, Chisom 1-21, Aaron Harris 6-19, Joseph Baker 1-12, Christian Mitchell 1-4, Young 1-3, Josh Jones 1-0.

PASSING -- De Soto, Smith 8-22-101-1; Central, Montgomery 4-4-104-1, Trent Leimer 0-1-0-1.

RECEIVING -- De Soto, Allen 3-53, Kent 4-30, Gibbons 2-18; Central, Chisom 1-45, Young 2-35, Statam 1-24.