Tigers whip Bulldogs

The real Central Tigers finally stood up.

Cape Central (4-4) lived up to its preseason potential Thursday night, whipping visiting Sikeston 32-9 in what was expected to be a close Class 4A, District 1 opener at Houck Stadium.

Central hadn't had a 100-yard rusher all season.

Thursday night, it had two.

The Tigers also scored their first defensive touchdown of the season.

They ran against Sikeston's huge defensive front. They held Sikeston to only 51 rushing yards.

In short, they played their best game of the season.

"We didn't prepare any different this week than the other seven weeks," said Cape Central coach Lawrence Brookins. "I can't put my finger on it. Tonight, there was a look in the kids' eyes before the game that we haven't seen this season. They were confident and focused."

Cape Central went on top with 3:32 left in the first quarter when quarterback Mitch Craft hit Chris Conrad on a screen pass over the middle. Conrad followed his blockers and scored from 24 yards out. Chris Jones made the extra point to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

With 9:15 remaining in the first half, Marcus Klund broke off a beautiful 17-yard touchdown run. He juked at the 15 and left a defender grasping air. He cut it back outside, picked up a blocker and gave Central a 13-0 lead. The kick was blocked.

"The line did awesome," said Klund, who finished for 115 yards on 20 carries. "They came to play tonight. We expected a close game, but we brought our 'A' game and this is what happens when we show up to play."

The biggest play of the game took place shortly thereafter. Sikeston had just completed a 43-yard pass and was looking to get back into the game.

But two plays later Central strong safety Monroe Hicks stripped the ball from running back Lavar Morgan and senior cornerback Andrew Eaton scooped up the lost goods and ran it back 70 yards for a touchdown.

"I just went for the rip and it came out and Eaton took it to the house," Hicks said.

"It happened so fast," Eaton said. "I just took off. I juked the dude and Jeremiah Dukes unloaded a block on somebody and I was gone."

After a failed 2-point conversion, Central went up 19-0. But its first-half scoring wasn't done yet.

On Sikeston's second play of its next possession, Hicks intercepted a pass, giving the Tigers another short field.

"They got the momentum early and that made the difference in the ballgame," Sikeston coach Charlie Vickery said. "We didn't play as well as we're capable of playing."

Klund later punched it in from 3 yards away to give Central a commanding 25-0 lead at halftime.

Central missed two field-goal attempts early in the second half, but it scored again with 3:13 to go in the third quarter when Hicks ran the ball in from 17 yards out. Hicks finished with 108 yards on 17 carries.

"I give all the credit to the line, both on offense and defense," Hicks said. "It was up to them. This is our best so far. This is a whole different season, a whole different ballgame."

"I didn't think they could come out and run the ball on us like they did," Vickery said.

Sikeston tacked on two scores late in the fourth quarter, the first on a 33-yard pass from backup quarterback Blake DeWitt to Andrew Lambert. The Bulldogs' 2-point conversion failed.

The Bulldogs then recovered the onside kick and managed a 24-yard field goal with 4.4 seconds remaining.