Vinson to Young proves to be a lethal weapon for streaking Tigers

Central quarterback Dennis Vinson can relate to the complexities of high school football, especially for sophomores, who sometimes are thrown into the fire of varsity action for the first time.

He remembers his first varsity experience as a sophomore.

"The first time I played quarterback I didn't look at anybody," said Vinson who came on to replace an injured Christian Cavaness against Sikeston in Week 9 of the 2011 season and then started the finale against Perryville the following week. "I didn't look at the defense. I just threw the ball where I hoped they were going to be. But now I read the defense and throw the ball and aim the ball, I guess, instead of just hoping they'll catch it."

It's a slower game for Vinson, who has two years of starting under his belt, and the numbers show it. He's tied for the school's single season record for touchdown passes, which was set at 19 by Mitch Craft in 2002.

He's familiar with the learning curve that sophomore Al Young faced earlier this season. It's a curve that Young has turned into a straight line, and one that's blacked out some long-standing marks in the Central record book.

Central senior quarterback Dennis Vinson, left, and record-breaking sophomore receiver Al Young have added a dangerous throwing element to the Tigers’ already strong ground attack. Vinson has tied the school’s single-season record with 19 touchdown passes, while Young has shattered the school’s single-season receiving record with 1,184 yards. TOP: Young hauls in a 62-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half in the Class 4 quarterfinals Saturday against Miller Academy at Central. The Tigers won 25-22. (Laura Simon)

Young had been a running back in seventh and eighth grade and as a freshman, where he saw a little playing time with the varsity on special teams.

"We didn't know if Al was going to be one of the three running backs, or where he was going to be, but we knew we had to get him the ball," Central coach Nathan Norman said. "We knew we had to find a position for him."

The decision was made to convert him to wide receiver his sophomore year.

"It's the first time I've been a wide receiver," Young said. "It took me so long to learn the routes. During the summer time we'd have a mini game, like 7 on 7, and I'd just be making up my own route. Coaches were telling me to learn the playbook, and when I learned it, that helped me a lot."

Young had a respectable 13 catches for 352 yards and two touchdowns through his first five games, then he began an outright assault on secondaries and the school record book.

He has averaged more than 100 yards receiving per game over Central's eight-game winning streak that has vaulted them into Saturday's Class 4 semifinal against Webb City. He's set Central's single-season receiving yards with 1,184 yards, blowing past the 34-year-old record of 771 set by Steve Williams in 1979.

"I think he's realizing as a wide receiver -- there's actually timed routes that you run, and it makes sense to him," Norman said. "And like anything, he's a sophomore, and it takes a little time to figure out. It didn't take him long, about four or five weeks and he had it. He's really been a good one."

Since a Week 5 loss to Jackson, which dropped the Tigers to 1-4, the Central offense has caught fire overall during the winning streak.

The perennially ground-oriented Tigers were averaging 335 yards a game through the first five weeks and 25.4 points. They have averaged 491 yards and 47.5 points since.

Vinson had thrown seven touchdowns and four interceptions through the first five games. He has 12 TDs and no interceptions since.

"To be a good quarterback you've got to have good receivers. And I think his confidence went up because he's confident in his receivers," Norman said. "If he throws the ball, they're more than likely going to catch it, and that's huge. And he hasn't always had that here, and he does now. He's got several different targets he can throw to."

Young has hauled in nine TD passes during the stretch and has 11 on the season, which also ties the school record set by Chris Allen in 1998.

"Al is like the best athlete I've probably ever seen and he's only a sophomore, so that shows you how his ceiling is endless," Vinson said.

Norman talks about an upgrade in Young's play after Week 5 -- a loss to Jackson -- of the regular season.

"Ever since that game, it's like a switch went off," Norman said. "He became an excellent blocker and receiver. He could catch anything and run better routes. I don't know, something about it and just getting that game experience and it clicked. Man, he just exploded, school record ... ."

It's all been about as surprising as the Tigers' general turnaround that has them in their first semifinal in 35 years.

"I knew he was going to be good, but I didn't know he's going to be as good as he is right now," Vinson said about Young, who he refers to among the fastest, if not the fastest, player on the team. "I guess he's been working hard. This summer we threw the ball a lot."

Big games of late

The sophomore had a season-high 142 yards on three catches, one for a TD, in the district final win over Hillsboro.

He topped that with 143 yards on five catches in Saturday's quarterfinal win against Miller Academy.

"At the first of the year it took a lot for us to connect," Young said. "He use to throw me the ball, like way up there, and I'd be like, 'Dennis, throw if farther.' He wasn't use to me."

Young vows he can run down any deep pass thrown by the strong-armed Vinson.

That was demonstrated on a 62-yard TD catch on a heave by Vinson on the final play of the first half against Miller Academy that extended the Tigers' lead to 15-0.

Young has repeatedly shown an aggressive style to go up between multiple defenders to make grabs, and then he uses his speed to do damage after the catch.

"When I throw to Al I know he's going to catch the ball for me," Vinson said. "Anytime I throw the ball to Al, it's a better chance he's going to catch it than be incomplete or an interception."

Young gives Vinson some of the credit for his own sure handedness.

"He throws a real catchable ball," Young said. "Even if he thinks he overthrew me, I'm still going to go get it. I always tell him, if it touches my fingertips, I can catch it."

That was the case on Central's winning drive in the quarterfinals. Young possibly kept the Tigers' season alive when he came back toward Vinson, who was under heavy pressure, on a cross to snare a fourth-down pass off the top of the turf for a 22-yard gain in the closing minutes of the quarterfinal.

The drive ultimately was capped by a 31-yard scoring run by senior Mikey Jones in the final minute.

Jones, a senior, also has also been on a tear in the Tigers' run-first mentality. He had 561 yards after week 5, and since has extended that total to a school-record 2,045 yards.

"With Mikey running the ball they load the box, so then it's like one-on-one with Al, and it makes it easier to throw the ball, Vinson said. "It all goes hand in hand."

All this offense has been anchored by an offensive line that returned intact from last year's 5-7 team that reached the district final.

"I'm more confident in my linemen and receivers than I was before," Vinson said. "I'm more comfortable in the pocket because I know they have my back. That's a big part of it."

Vinson has 1,757 yards passing, not far off the single-season record of 2,099 yards turned in by Frank McGinty in 1998.

"Dennis is a lot more comfortable with the offense," senior center Scottie Thomas said. "He sees a lot more with what's going on. He has more of game-planning role and just has a great command of the offense."

Vinson's completion rate has been 63 percent over the last eight games.

"He's learned to be more comfortable behind us and the offensive line," senior right tackle Martez Carter said. "And he's gotten a lot more comfortable with the offense, making better reads and better throws. ... Having somebody who can perform like Al does, I'd be pretty comfortable at quarterback."

Vinson agrees with that assessment.

"I'm more confident in my linemen and receivers than I was before," he said. "I'm more comfortable in the pocket because I know they have my back. That's a big part of it."

Vinson averages 18.7 yards per attempt over the last eight games, well above the 9.1 he had after week 5.

Part of that is due to the productiveness of Young, who averages a gaudy 31.2 yards on his 38 receptions.

"What's really amazing is that he averages over 30 yards a catch, and it looks bad as a coach that we don't him the ball more," Norman said. "It all works together. If we didn't run the ball like we do, he'd be less apt to get the big play. It all works together."

Young averages 12 yards a catch above what former Tiger George Hamilton III (18.9) had set in 2006 as the standard for receivers with a minimum of 25 catches in a season.

"You throw a short pass to him and it's like a touchdown pretty much," Vinson said. "He helps me out."

"Al has made a lot of leaps forward this year," Thomas said. "He's gotten a lot tougher mentally and he's really showing up and playing big. We all knew he had it in him. We all knew that at one point in time he was going to come out and show Al."

Much of that success has been the by-product of the maturation of Vinson, who said he's improved dramatically over last year.

"[Vinson] improved a lot," Jones said. "I've known him since he was little."

Norman, who is in his third year of coaching, said Vinson has followed the maturing process followed by most high school players -- at least those not named Al Young. Norman was an all-state linebacker and running back for Jackson teams that reached back-to-back state championship games in the 1990s.

"I look back to when I was in high school, sophomore and junior year, you're a pretty good player and you think you know what's going on, but then my senior year it felt like I could see everything," Norman said. "I knew what was happening before it happened. It's hard to explain, but you could just see it, and I think that's where he is right now and he understands the game and is confident in his receivers."

And a strong arm that launches tight spirals to a precocious sophomore makes for drama and scoring opportunity any time, any place.

"He just throws a great deep ball," Norman said. "And Al can run underneath it and do acrobatic catches."