Central trying to right its ship

Cape Girardeau Central has been rearranging chairs this week to make sure the ship won't go down.

After studying game film of last week's 28-20 loss to New Madrid County Central, the Tiger coaching staff has made several changes to the depth chart, particularly at the line of scrimmage.

Central (1-1) hopes those moves pay off tonight when it travels to Blytheville, Ark., for a 7:30 kickoff.

The Tigers' biggest question mark entering the season was depth at the offensive line. By Week 2, starting center Justin Wells and starting guard Adrian Wren were out with injuries. Wells could be back next week. Wren will play this week, but he's still not completely healthy.

Also, 315-pounder Chris Smith will not play as much on the offensive line.

"We attacked the depth chart," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said. "It was a mad scramble to create more depth and competition on the line. The things we saw on film really disappointed us. A few athletes appeared to be taking plays off and were not in shape and we as coaches take that personally. With those things in mind, we thought we had to shuffle players around."

One of the shuffled players is Kyle Duncan, who has been a pleasant surprise for Central as a linebacker on defense this year. He will make the move from fullback to guard. Also being moved from fullback to add depth to the offensive line is Josh Ford.

Darren Neels, a sophomore who started at guard, has been moved to center.

To add insult to injury, Central's top tackler, middle linebacker Jeremiah Dukes, will not start tonight because of some minor discipline reasons. Brookins was unsure of how much he will play.

Brookins is hoping that his watered-down Tigers will still be able to hold their own against a Blytheville team that has struggled so far.

The Chickasaws (0-2) were defeated 37-12 by Poplar Bluff last week and 28-0 by New Madrid two weeks ago.

More changes

Central hasn't just made changes to the depth charts.

The Tigers have been working on some different plays this week, focusing on some areas they feel Blytheville's 5-2 defense may be vulnerable.

Brookins said fans will see running backs Monroe Hicks and Marcus Klund on the field at the same time more often this week.

He also said quarterback Mitch Craft will begin to see more time in the defensive backfield.

Blytheville is a team that doesn't pass the ball often.

"If they're passing the ball, we're in good shape," Brookins said. "That probably means we're winning."

Brookins said Blytheville is running out of the wishbone this year.

"Their backs are very fast, quick and mobile," said Brookins.Attitude adjustment

Among the things that disturbed Brookins about last week's home loss to New Madrid County Central was a sense of pride in losing.

The Tigers trailed 20-0 before rallying back to claim a tie. New Madrid assembled a drive in the fourth quarter to win the game.

"Yes, I'm proud that we came back," he said. "On the other hand I DO NOT want to us to become accustomed to 'Yeah we lost, but we came back and played well.' You can't poke around and decide to turn it on."