TIGERS TRY TO STOP THREE-GAME SKID TODAY

By Bob Miller

Cape Central is hoping that Saturday the 14th will prove to be lucky.

The Tigers will attempt to put an end to a three-game losing streak this afternoon when they play host to Ritenour at 1 p.m. at Houck Stadium.

And Central could sure use a little luck after the many injuries it has had to deal with in the last three or four weeks.

"This extra day gave some wounded an extra day to heal," said Cape Central coach Lawrence Brookins. "After a hard-hitting game against Jackson, it's a blessing to have an extra day."

The Tigers suffered a 34-24 loss to Jackson last week, but it was a game that Central could draw many positives from.

"That was a hard-fought game, one of the best games I've been involved in the last few years," Brookins said. "Up until late, it could've gone either way. This Ritenour team is big, but Jackson was huge up front, so we've seen size. And we've seen speed we won't see a faster kid than Mario Whitney. I think we learned that when we play hard and play with the proper technique, we can play with anybody."

Ritenour, meanwhile, plays in arguably the toughest conference in the state, the Suburban North Conference in St. Louis, which includes 5A powers Pattonville, Hazelwood East and Riverview Gardens.

The Huskies have beaten Normandy (15-2) and Hazlewood West (32-24) this season.

Ritenour, which almost exclusively runs the ball, spreads the ball to three different running backs.

Troy Burrage gets most of the carries, rushing 70 times for 446 yards. But Cornell Fisher and Chris Grubbs have run for 249 and 285 yards, respectively.

Grubbs is the team's quarterback. He has completed 29-of-76 passes for 470 yards.

"Ritenour is a run, run, run, run team," Brookins emphasized. "They don't pass very often and they don't pass it very well. But they've got good size and quickness in the backfield."

To go along with the backfield are some horses up front.

"They're huge," Brookins said. "Their biggest starter is 275-280, but they go as big as 340 and down to 220. But we've seen size and it shouldn't surprise us."

Central, meanwhile, will try to continue its offensive momentum after throwing the ball for almost 200 yards last week. The Tigers' offense scored 24 points, 17 more points than it scored in the two weeks prior.

It was the most points since Central put up a 30-6 win over Blytheville in Week. 3

Brookins said they'll approach this game much like last week's game, which means giving quarterback T.J. Erlacker more opportunities to throw the ball.

"We've got to," Brookins said. "These boys are like Jackson where they're big enough inside, we can't count on just the run and the dive and the power repeatedly. T.J. handled the pressure situation real well last week. The place was rocking and 8,000 or 9,000 people were there and he handled it. But we're looking for a level of consistency not just from T.J. but from everybody."

Jamelle Austin is Cape Central's leading rusher with 451 yards.