TIGERS HATCH CONSERVATIVE PLAN; ST. CHARLES WEST VISITS HOUCK

What do you do after you lay an egg?

Sit on it.

One week after turning the ball over eight times in a 47-17 loss to Sikeston - five on interceptions - Cape Central (2-4) will accentuate the running game in its game with St. Charles West at 7:30 tonight at Houck Stadium.

"We're going to run the ball more this week," Cape Central coach Jerry Dement said. "It's an attitude. We're not as physical as we want to be."

St. Charles West (4-2), which lost 24-7 to Francis Howell North last week with its fifth-string quarterback, Tauras Ferguson, calling the signals, will also attempt to get back to basics.

Ferguson, who leads the Warriors with 480 rushing, will be back at tailback this week.

Second-string quarterback Shawn Bridges, a senior, will fill in for starter Kevin Ball, who is sidelined with a broken hand. Ball will kick for West tonight.

"To say we were in disarray last week would be an understatement," St. Charles West coach Steve Stahl said. "With us it's essential that we establish the run, but we're also going to have to try to keep them off balance."

Prior to last Friday, Central had thrown the ball as well as any team in the state. Quarterback Frank McGinty had completed 60 percent of his passes and had thrown only one interception this year after throwing three last year.

"That's the first bad game he's had in 15 games," Dement said. "It was an aberration. You can't sell out on him, and we're still going to be able to pass the ball, but we want to be able to control the clock more."

The last time St. Charles West played in Cape Girardeau (1980), the Warriors defeated the Tigers 41-33 in a track meet.

This year, the Warriors have a veritable track team in their backfield with Ball and Ferguson, both top state sprinters during the spring.

But with Ball out of the lineup, responsibility falls more heavily on Ferguson to be the primary weapon in West's option game.

Central has had trouble stopping the run, and has been burned for big plays by the option.

"Our discipline on assignments has been poor," Dement said. "They all are trying so hard to do well that they forget they have a job to do. A lot of that is overzealousness. They have to realize they have a role to play."

The Tigers may be able to take advantage of the Warriors lack of size. Emmanuel Harris and DeMarco Williams (he will play after spraining an ankle last week), Central's leading rushers, have 6-2, 275-pound right tackle Craig Knoth to plow holes for them.

"Knoth has been consistent... and that's one of our area's of concern: consistency," Dement said. "The running game has been hit and miss."

A win over St. Charles West could restore consistency and confidence going into district play next week. Central begins Class 5A district play next Friday at Vianney in St. Louis.

"We need to put what we've done so far behind us and get better going into district," said Dement, whose Tigers were 6-1 before losing two of three in district play last year. "We want to use this game as a stepping stone."

Prep football

Tonight's Games

(7:30 p.m. kickoffs)

St. Charles West at Cape Central

Soldan at Jackson

Hayti at Scott City

Chaffee at Malden

John Burroughs at Perryville

St. Vincent at Grandview

North County at Fredericktown

New Madrid at Sikeston

Belleville Althoff, Ill. at Poplar Bluff

Dexter at Caruthersville

East Prairie at Kennett

Pinckneyville at Anna-Jonesboro

Cairo at Johnston City (7 p.m.)

Saturday's Game

Mountain View-Liberty at Portageville, 3 p.m.