EAGLES FLATTEN TIGERS 34-7

Cape Central came out looking about as sharp as a pancake Friday night.

A tasteless, half-baked pancake.

And, after the Tigers succumbed to the Class 3A New Madrid County Central Eagles 34-7, Cape Central coach Lawrence Brookins was the first to admit to his team's lackluster play.

"I told the kids that they need to go home tonight and sleep on it and when their feet hit the ground in the morning if (being a member of this team) doesn't feel good to them, they could come in and check in their gear," said Brookins after watching his team muster just 37 yards of total offense. "We need to find out who is truly with us and who is doing their own thing."

The loss was especially disappointing since the Tigers were blown out last week 40-7 by Columbia Hickman, a state-ranked Class 5A team.

"When we lose it's always a disappointment," Brookins said. "We continued a string here tonight. We didn't win one home game here last year. We came out tonight and played inconsistently."

Cape Central couldn't do much of anything right. And when it did, luck certainly didn't follow suit.

For instance, Central blocked a punt in the first quarter but the ball bounced off a Tiger player and New Madrid ended up getting a fresh set of downs.

But that was about the only time the Tigers stopped the Eagles. New Madrid punted just twice and consumed large chunks of clock during each of their possessions, while Central made a habit of coughing up the ball.

Central fumbled five times (including the confusing punt play) and lost four of them. The Tigers were intercepted twice.

In the first half, Cape Central ran just 14 plays (excluding punts) to New Madrid's 31. And of Central's 14 plays in the first half, nine of them came with less than 3:30 remaining.

Brookins refused to accept that nerves played a part of the Tigers' butterfingers.

"Jitters my butt," Brookins said.

Nothing went right for Central Friday night and the Tigers would probably give the Eagles a better game could the two teams play again.

But make no mistake, New Madrid is a Class 3A team to be reckoned with.

Eagles standout running back Ricky Smith pounded, tugged and pushed his way to 142 yards on 25 carries.

In the first half, Smith popped off five yards here, seven yards there until he amassed 59 yards on 16 carries. In the second half, Central's defense wore down and Smith was able to break off a 48-yarder.

"He works at it and it was a challenge tonight for him," said New Madrid County coach Ron Jones of his star tailback. "Teams gameplan for him and he came out and stepped up. And that's what great backs do. He's a catalyst and there's no doubt he's a marked man. It won't be any different next week when we play Malden. They'll be up for Ricky Smith."

Neither team scored in the first quarter, but New Madrid had the ball all but 2:15.

The Eagles completed their 14-play drive which covered 92 yards early in the second quarter when Smith scored from 4 yards out.

New Madrid polished off another massive drive in the second quarter -- this one covering 7:30 and 11 plays -- when Dereke Tipler scored from 3 yards out.

"Obviously, (not having the ball) that's partly the offense's fault. But defensively, we can't let teams just sustain drives. They drive the ball and drive the ball. And every time we stiffened up and stopped them, something would happen ... we'd get a penalty. Hell, we blocked a dog-gone punt and then it goes the other way. Any time we got something going, something stopped us.

"A lot of our problems aren't luck, though. You have to make your own luck. We're not a physical bunch yet and I don't know if we will be."

Central looked to build some momentum when Donnie McClinton ran a kickoff return back for 90 yards and a touchdown to open the second half.

But New Madrid's offense picked up where it left off.

Smith scored with 5:24 left in the third quarter from six yards out. and -- after a short possession by Central -- he put the game away with his 48-yard score. That made the score 28-7.

Friday's Results

New Madrid 34, Cape Central 7

Jackson 31, Sumner 30

Scott City 44, Portageville 6

Gosnell, Ark. 33, Chaffee 6

Ste. Genevieve 25, Perryville 22

St. Vincent 17, Fredericktown 0

Sikeston 38, Charleston 26

Poplar Bluff 46, Blytheville 18

Piggott 34, East Prairie 0

Malden 53, Hayti 20

Kennett 44, Caruthersville 12

Paragould 10, Dexter 7

Benton 35, Anna-Jonesboro 7

Massac Co. 50, Cairo 0