Tigers' offense clicks vs. Warriors

~ Central formed its first winning streak with a 34-10 victory over St. Charles West

Once the Central football team found the right formula for attacking St. Charles West on Friday night, the Tigers were unstoppable.

Central scored on five consecutive possessions and posted a 34-10 victory against the Warriors on homecoming at Houck Stadium.

Senior running back Hykeem Hammonds carried 19 times for 136 yards and three touchdowns, while senior quarterback Blake Slattery completed his final 13 passes and finished 13 of 16 for 208 yards.

"We had a lot of good blocking," Hammonds said. "There was good pass protection by the line, and the receivers were blocking well for me down field."

Hammonds had six carries of 10 or more yards, including four of them during an eight-carry, 75-yard second-quarter performance.

"Hykeem could have run all night, but he has a little bit of a toe injury," Central coach Lawrence Brookins said.

"We built a little more confidence tonight," Brookins added.

The Tigers, who improved to 2-3 with their second straight win, will need it heading into Friday's game at Jackson (4-1), a team that has beaten Central in six of the last seven meetings.

The Tigers, who have scored just nine points in the first quarter this season, kept up that trend Friday. They scored none, and fell behind 3-0 to the Warriors (1-4) on a 25-yard field goal by Zach Ring in the second period.

Central's answered swiftly with a four-play, 61-yard drive that featured plenty of Hammonds and the first of Slattery's 13 straight completions. Hammonds scored on a 17-yard run, and Tyler McNabb added the kick to make the score 7-3.

McNabb's ensuing kickoff was fumbled out of bounds by St. Charles West's Jacob Houska at the 6-yard line.

Two plays later came the turning point -- a pass from Brannon Champagne to Houska behind the Tigers secondary. Houska slipped away from one diving tackler, but the ball slipped from his hands 20 yards from the end zone and George Hamilton recovered for Central.

Hammonds capped an 11-play march with a 2-yard run for a 13-3 lead just before the half.

On the opening drive of the second half, Central drove 64 yards for a score. Hammonds' 1-yard plunge made the score 20-3.

After a three-and-out by the Warriors, Central scored its fourth TD. Hamilton, a sophomore, came back to take Slattery's underthrown pass from a defender and scampered into the end zone for a 36-yard scoring play.

Central's four scores came while the Warriors had the ball for all of eight snaps and no first downs.

Derek Walker scored Central's final TD on a 6-yard run, and St. Charles West added a TD in the final 2 minutes.