Tigers hope to face just Eagles

Cape Central has played some tough opponents this season.

Poplar Bluff and New Madrid County Central, in particular.

But Central coach Lawrence Brookins said perhaps the toughest opponent his team has faced is the Tigers. The Cape Central Tigers.

Brookins hopes the Orange and Black only plays one team -- Graves County (Ky.) -- tonight when the two teams are scheduled to hook up at 7:30 p.m. in Kentucky.

"We need to quit playing two teams a night," Brookins said. "We play against our opponent and against ourselves."

Penalties and turnovers cost the Tigers (2-2) an upset bid last week. Central, according to many who saw the game in person, dominated the Mules in the first half.

The Tigers recovered a fumble at their own 2, marched the ball 93 yards then fumbled it back to the Mules. Two plays later, the Mules scored on a long pass play and all Central had to show for its dominance was a 7-6 lead at halftime. Central ended up losing 26-10.

On some of Poplar Bluff's possessions, the Tigers were flagged for dead-ball penalties that kept the Mules driving.

Brookins wants to eliminate those mistakes this week, but more importantly, he wants his team to recover better.

"We've got to get better at responding to adversity," Brookins said. "Every time except once this season, they've scored off our turnovers. We just need to maintain our focus and get back to business."

Graves County

The Eagles are 1-3 and don't appear to be as talented as they were last year when they beat Central 12-7.

Graves County is still stinging from a 41-20 loss to Jackson last week, but they scored more points against the Indians last week than any other teams have so far.

"We've got to shut down the running game," said Brookins. "They're still trying to search for a quality passing attack, but they do have the ability to run the ball."

Graves County's skill players are mostly young and they don't have a lot of speed, but the Eagles are strong at the line of scrimmage.

"Most of our experience is on the offensive and defensive lines," said Brookins. "They've been together a while and they come off the ball well. We're not real heavy, but we've got some good skill up there."

Graves County could easily be 3-1 this year, but the Eagles lost two games in the fourth quarter, including in the last minute to Paducah Tilghman.

"We've turned the ball over quite a bit when we've been in scoring position," Hatchell said. "Scoring in that situation is something that you gradually learn how to do. That's a key for us."

Cutting down on sacks

Sophomore quarterback Mitch Craft had an impressive week last week, completing 18 of 24 passes for 192 yards and no interceptions. But Craft was sacked eight times.

Brookins said there were a number of reasons for the high sack total and the team has been working to fix the problems.

He said there were times Craft should have stepped up into the pocket instead of rolling outside. He said there were times when running backs missed blocking assignments and he said there were times when the offensive line didn't block very well.