Tigers conclude road portion of schedule with blowout win

For the third-straight week the Cape Central offense showed up and showed out.

The Tigers dominated the DeSoto Dragons 51-21 on Friday at DeSoto High School.

“We had some ideas of things we wanted to work on,” Tigers coach Kent Gibbs said. “I think we did a good job of coming out and playing tonight and taking care of business like we needed too.”

On the first offensive possession for the Tigers, a four-yard touchdown run for KeyShawn Boyd followed a big gain on the ground by Zai’Aire Thomas.

“I think big plays are key for us because that’s kind of what we do,” Gibbs said. “Anytime you get those kind of plays it gives your offensive line some confidence and we just carried it from there.”

After another defensive stop, the Tigers went to work on offense as Thomas caught a pass from Jathan Spain for a 50-yard gain, before rushing for a four-yard touchdown of his own to make it 14-0 Tigers.

The Cape Central defense made life easy for the offense early on, allowing next to nothing when DeSoto had the ball, setting up prime position on every drive.

“It all goes hand-in-hand,” Gibbs said. “The idea is you want to get better and be playing as good as you possibly can heading into districts.”

Spain and the Tigers took advantage of yet another short field, as Spain ran for a three-yard touchdown to expand the lead to 22-0.

“It’s big because Jathan got thrown into the fire and he’s struggled at times,” Gibbs said. “The thing is he just keeps coming back and he’s easy to coach. He does what he needs to do so the kids like seeing him be successful because he’s such a hard worker.”

Following a DeSoto score, Boyd answered with a one-yard touchdown run to make it 29-7 Tigers.

As the end of the second quarter neared, the Tigers weren’t done scoring.

They backed the Dragons up to their own three-yard line and rather than punting, the Dragons willingly took a safety to give themselves room.

The free two points weren’t enough for the Tigers however as Boyd found the end zone again, this time courtesy of a 36-yard pass from Spain.

“On Thursday he just looked like he had a little more confidence,” Gibbs said. “He was doing a good job reading the things he needed to read and just letting it go.”

Gibbs said heading into halftime the message was about respect.

“We wanted to respect ourselves, respect the game and respect the other team and come out and do the things we needed to do in the second half,” Gibbs said.

Whatever Gibbs and his staff said worked, as the Tigers forced a stop and on just one play later, Thomas broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run to make it 45-7 Tigers.

“We wanted to get a stop and get a score and then start getting guys in and that’s what we did from there,” Gibbs said.

Cape Central’s offense kept rumbling even as the backups came in with Raymond Jackson answering a DeSoto score with a 25-yard touchdown to make it 51-14 Tigers.

Ever since the Tigers were blown out by Jackson on Sept. 22, the offense has stepped up.

They have scored 134 points over their last three games.

“We’re doing a good job of blocking up front,” Gibbs said. “If you do a good job up front then we have a couple of running backs who are going to do a great job and it’s one of the reasons we tried to get the passing game more involved so we aren’t so one dimensional.”

Cape Central (5-3) closes out the regular season at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, when the Tigers host Potosi at Cape Central High School.

“We’re going to have to be ready,” Gibbs said. “We just have to focus on getting better this week.”