Central junior quarterback has Tigers at full speed

Deadly by air. Deadly by foot.

The Central Tigers' offense is proving to be more than a handful for coaches, and less than an armful for their frustrated defenses.

What's a team to do?

Try to stop the run, and the Tigers turn to the air. Look to the sky and the confounding Tigers travel by land.

And at the center of it all, fittingly enough, is a guy named Craft -- as in craft-y.

Junior quarterback Mitch Craft embodies the flexibility and elusiveness of an attack that has dissected defenses with increasing precision, efficiency and confidence.

In his second year as starting quarterback, the Tiger offense is humming.

"A lot of it is due to him, that's for sure," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said.

Central (5-1), which will host Sumner tonight, averages 35 points a game and has not scored less than 28 points.

"It's my second year and I'm expected to do a lot more than I was last year," Craft said. "I look at it as kind of a challenge, but it's a fun one."

With Craft at the controls, the Tigers' offense has been a model of consistency and balance. Central has been averaging 361 yards total offense, having never traveled for less than 292 yards and never more than 407.

On average, 208 yards comes on the ground.

The other 153 yards per game have come almost solely on the arm of Craft, who's completed 60 percent of his passes. He's thrown for season-high yardage in each of the last three games, including 200 yards in Friday's 34-7 win over Jackson.

"Our pass attack has really been helping us out lately," running back Monroe Hicks said. " We ran the ball a lot at the beginning, but now we're starting to pass and mixing them up both ways. Now teams guess and get confused and don't know what we're going to do."

"It's starts with Mitch -- he's been doing great," said Tiger receiver Seth Hudson, who's become a Craft favorite. Hudson caught six passes for 141 yards against Jackson.

Try to put pressure on Craft and you're not likely to get your man. That's when the 6-foot-1 junior launches into a Houdini act, passing the line of scrimmage like water through a chain-link fence. In a position normally associated with negative yards in the rushing column, Craft has been sacked only about a half-dozen times all season. He averages more than 50 yards rushing a game and his 315 yards rushing are second on the team. He averages 5.2 yards per carry.

"He's a pretty big dude, man," Hicks points out. "He's 6-2, 205. That's a lot."Thrown into the fire

Craft has grown quite a bit since his sophomore year, both physically and mentally.

"The difference between this year and last year is like night and day," Brookins said.

Craft always has been fast and strong-armed, having started in the outfield for the Tiger varsity baseball team as a freshman. His role in Tiger sports grew last year when he became the school's starting varsity quarterback as a sophomore .

It wasn't without growing pains. He took at least six sacks in a game against Jackson last year

"I got sacked a lot last year being my first year," he said. "That's one thing I've been leaning toward a lot this year, not getting sacked so much. Last year a lot of them were my fault because I stayed in the pocket or I wouldn't throw the ball away. I wouldn't tuck it and run."

But the ingredients for a successful quarterback were apparent.

Central started last season 2-5, but as their quarterback improved, so did the team's fortunes. A five-game winning streak took the Tigers to the Class 4 quarterfinals for the second straight year. Craft cited a 48-14 district victory over Perryville, in which he completed 9 of 11 passes for two touchdowns, as the point where he started to feel more confident in his duties.

He blossomed further in the playoffs as he began playing beyond his years. In a 53-52 double-overtime win over North County in the sectionals, he rushed for 118 yards, scored three touchdowns and completed 21 of 30 passes for 172 yards.

The success has been coupled with a summer of dedication. He spent long hours with his receivers and the swift, sure-handed crew won a 7-on-7 competition at a camp at the University of Missouri. Craft said the goal was to build cohesiveness and timing "until where it felt like I could close my eyes and can feel where they're going to be."

The confusing task that once confronted a sophomore has been simplified through time and familiarity.

"I hear the play. I tell the offense and then I run through it in my head and I run through it being perfect," Craft said. "I go through my progression and go through my reads."

"It's a lot more clear than ever. The game seems slower. Last year, everything was 200 mph."Focusing on Monroe

Craft has been stepping up with some of his biggest games as opponents have focused on Hicks, who leads the team with 720 yards rushing and is second in receiving yards with 283. Hicks averaged over 200 yards total offense in the first three games.

"I want them to key on me and leave somebody else open," Hicks said. "That's more success for me and my team."

Craft and his receivers, who seem to have hands of glue, have been up to the challenge.

"They don't drop them in the game and they don't drop them in practice either," Craft notes.

Four different Tigers have caught touchdown passes and Craft has thrown seven overall with two interceptions. He's also rushed for five touchdowns.

Over their last three games, the Tigers have been almost perfectly balanced with 575 yards passing and 517 rushing. During the span their total offense numbers are rock steady, ranging from 345 to 375 yards.

"I'm not really surprised, but excited about what we can do in the future," Hudson said. "This summer during camp, I knew it was going to be like this."

jbreer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 124