Tiger defense makes strong first impression

With much of the attention on the right arm of senior Mitch Craft, the Tigers' defense entered the football season as a relative unknown.

Central's defense made its presence felt in the season opener by forcing five turnovers and holding St. Charles West's wishbone offense to six points during a 24-6 victory.

The defensive unit will look to continue its momentum tonight when the Tigers face New Madrid County Central. The Eagles are led by wide receiver Edgar Givens, who has made a verbal commitment to the University of Missouri, and running back Remond Willis.

"You'll see a lot of good athletes out there," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said. "They have kids who can take a broken play and turn it into a touchdown."

Last year the defense made a statement by handing NMCC one of its two shutouts in a 2-8 season.

"You really can't look too much at last year," junior linebacker Gabe Edwards said.

The Tigers defense has a good mix of size and speed with senior Darren Neels anchoring the line and Mark Dunaway providing stability to the defensive backfield.

"Neels is pretty solid as our up end," Brookins said. "You can take him to the bank."

A batch of turnoversSenior linebacker Kyle Schuessler led the Tigers Friday night by intercepting two passes and returning one for a touchdown. Fellow linebackers Mikell Abraham and Brandon Twiggs each had one fumble recovery.

"That gives us a standard to step up to," Twiggs said of the opener.

The Tigers have allowed 14 points or fewer in 10 of their last 13 games.

"Our defense has been pretty good," Brookins said. "The last couple of years we've had real good stats defensively."

Facing a team like NMCC, the Tigers will have to rely on their team speed.

"The big strength of our defense is speed," Edwards said. "I think that's something that gets overlooked."

Central's defense relies on gap control with each player on the field responsible for a particular gap.

"We all try to make what we do as simple as we can," Brookins said. "Most of our kids play one spot and that simplifies it even more."

While the defense has several returning starters, players like Edwards and even Craft, who started the opener at free safety, have few defensive starts under their belts.

"With the new guys coming in we're jelling pretty well," Edwards said.

The defensive unit like the offensive unit has had to make up for the graduation of all-stater Monroe Hicks. While Hicks' offensive numbers were outstanding, he was also an all-state selection at defensive back.

"We don't have anyone that plays the way he did, but we have people that have picked it up," Edwards said.

When the Eagles and Tigers step on the field tonight the two lineups may not look the same as a year ago, but the Tigers will look for a similar result.

"If we get 11 guys out there doing their jobs we're capable of shutting them down," Edwards said.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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TODAY'S GAME

NMCC at Central

Last week: Central 24, St. Charles West 6; Jonesboro (Ark.) 26, NMCC 7

Last year: Central 31, NMCC 0

Notes: Mitch Craft threw for more than 200 yards in the opener and rushed for nearly 70 to lead the team in both categories. The Tigers had a balanced attack on the ground with 165 yards. Marcus Rice rushed for 36 yards, Gabe Edwards picked up 29 and Brandon Twiggs added 25. Mark Dunaway and Twiggs had big games receiving, with the two accounting for 183 yards receiving. In season opener, NMCC amassed only 171 yards and had only 81 yards through three quarters. Remond Harris was the Eagles' top performer with 98 yards rushing on 21 carries. NMCC held Jonesboro to 257 yards of offense. The Eagles' pass defense allowed only 22 yards. The all-time series between the teams is tied at four games.