Tigers, Indians arrive at quarterfinals

Cape Central and Washington had to work a little extra to get into the Class 4A state quarterfinals this year.

A total of four overtimes to be exact.

Both the Tigers and the Blue Jays are coming off double overtime victories in sectional play Wednesday night.

Washington, ranked second in 4A, defeated sixth-ranked Ladue 21-20, stopping a 2-point conversion to win the game.

Unranked Central took advantage of a missed PAT kick to beat North County 53-52.

Tonight, the two fortunate teams will test their luck again when Central (7-4) plays host to Washington (11-0) at 7 p.m. at Houck Stadium.

Both teams enter tonight's games with a balanced offensive attack.

On paper, the Blue Jays appear to have a more potent attack as senior quarterback Adam Brune (6-foot-3, 180 lbs.) has thrown for 1,002 yards and rushed for 605. Washington's running back, Jamie Dowler (5-9, 175), has 1,544 rushing yards, averaging 9.9 yards per carry.

"Jamie is a fast kid, he can break 11 seconds in the 100," said first-year Washington coach Jeff Duncan, who was an assistant at Washington for the last three years. "He's a physical runner. You're not going to see him run out of bounds, but he's elusive, too, and likes to cut it back.

"Adam has made my job so much easier. He knows the offense so well and is a threat to run and throw. He's a great decision maker."

Perhaps Brune's most impressive stat is that he's thrown 15 touchdown passes and only two interceptions.

"They've got a good-looking offense," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said.

But Central has some weapons, too.

Sophomore quarterback Mitch Craft has performed well of late and has completed 99 of his 154 passes for 1,264 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. Last week, he rushed for 118 yards and threw for 275.

The running back duo of Marcus Klund and Monroe Hicks, meanwhile, has combined for 1,396 rushing yards and 865 receiving yards.

Fewer mental miscues

After struggling offensively through the first half of the regular season, Central has scored 32, 48, 26 and 53 points in its last four games., an average of 40 points per contest.

The Tigers have won five straight.

"All year long, we were hurting ourselves and the last few weeks, there has been less and less of that," Brookins said.

Duncan out

Central's outside linebacker Kyle Duncan was lost for the season after suffering a Joe Theisman-like broken leg toward the end of the game.

"It was a nasty break," said Brookins. "It's a big loss, but we have a couple kids who we can put in who are pretty good. I hate to see a kid's high school career end like that, but he handled it better than I would."

Kenny Lowe and Chris Conrad filled in for Duncan Wednesday night.