Central turns rivalry into romp

In a season with lofty goals, the Central Tigers crossed off a big accomplishment Friday night at Jackson High School.

Clogging Jackson's power running game, Central broke a four-year losing streak to the Indians with a tidy 34-7 victory in the annual clash between the Cape Girardeau County rivals.

Central improved to 5-1 this season after it limited Jackson to just 80 yards rushing on 35 carries and 167 yards of total offense.

"This game was real important and we came out and played. We used the last years of them beating us as motivation, especially last year -- 33-0," said Central senior running back Monroe Hicks, who ran for a 1-yard touchdown and threw for another on a 55-yard option pass to Seth Hudson.

Both plays came in the third quarter when Central expanded a 17-0 halftime lead into a 31-0 advantage.

It assured all of the Tiger seniors of their first varsity win over Jackson, which fell to 1-5.

"It wasn't easy," said Tiger senior linebacker Jeremiah Dukes, who returned from a knee injury to lead the defensive effort. "They played hard. It's just that we came in on top of our game."

Dukes hauled in his first touchdown pass of the season, part of a balanced Central attack. The Tigers rolled out 351 yards of offense, twice Jackson's output. Hicks led a 156-yard ground attack with 97 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Junior quarterback Mitch Craft again sizzled from the air. After completing 14 of 19 passes last week against Graves County, Craft connected on his first seven passes against Jackson and finished 10 of 14 for 140 yards.

"This was the biggest game of the year so far," Craft said. "We just took control. Everything was working -- the passing was working and there were a lot of alleys. The guys in the trenches did a great job."

Hudson finished with a season-high 142 yards on six receptions.

Jackson, which bulled Central in the preseason jamboree, came into the game intent on running against the Tigers and opened the game with an 11-play, 37-yard drive that eventually stalled on downs at the Central 33.

Central then began a game-long trend of moving the ball. The Tigers would score or attempt field goals on their first seven possessions of the game. Starting at their 33, the Tigers needed just six plays to cover 67 yards. Craft scored on a 5-yard run with 4:20 left in the quarter and Colin Schermann's extra point gave Central a 7-0 lead.

Jackson picked up three first downs on its next possession and drove to the Tiger 28, but Central's Mikell Abraham recovered a Stuart McIntosh fumble on a first-down play to snuff the drive. Jackson's offense was snuffed from that point, too. The Indians didn't pick up their next first down until late in the third quarter.

"We really wanted to win this game to just turn around our season and get some respect back for the players and kind of for our town, too," McIntosh said. "It's a disappointment we couldn't pull through tonight. We didn't come out and play to the level we needed and it showed in the score."

Schermann missed a 36-yard field goal attempt on Central's second possession, but nailed a 36-yard attempt after Central blocked a Chad Reiminger punt for a 10-0 lead.

Dukes closed out the half by hauling in a 15-yard pass from Craft with 35 seconds left for a 17-0 lead.

Central needed just two plays to cover 82 yards -- a Hicks 27-yard run and the 55-yard pass to Hudson -- after taking the opening kickoff to the second half to up the lead to 24-0.

Jackson abandoned its running game and threw a season-high 20 times in the second half.

"Air Jackson, huh?," Jackson coach Carl Gross said. "Not a good sign."

Hicks scored from 1-yard out for the 31-0 lead midway through the third quarter. Jackson broke through when Tyler Profilet hit Tyler Boyd for a 6-yard touchdown pass with 8:49 left in the game.

Schermann closed the scoring with a 26-yard field goal.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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