Webb City clamps down on Central standout Al Young

Central wide receiver Al Young has been a playmaker for the Tigers this season.

But in the Class 4 championship against Webb City on Saturday at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, the Tigers struggled to block, leaving little time for Young and the rest of the Central receiving corps to get open.

Central coach Nathan Norman said the Tigers' game plan was not to get Young the ball on every play, but his limited number of touches did hurt Central's chances of winning.

"We'd like to have got him the ball more, but he had a little bit of an injury on his arm and we weren't sure how he was going to hold up at tailback," Norman said about Young. "That kind of limited his carries at tailback and like I said, they did a nice job of getting to our quarterback before we could get the ball out to him. We had to change it up and incorporate him in the quick passing game a little bit more. We did that. It was probably too little too late."

Young had 115 all-purpose yards, but was limited to just nine receiving yards on three catches and negative-four rushing yards on two carries. He did not touch the ball on offense until the third quarter.

Young said he was double-teamed on nearly every play, making it hard to separate from defenders at the line of scrimmage.

"I was getting doubled. I couldn't really go nowhere because every time I would run, I got hit," Young said. "It just threw me off a lot. They had two people guarding me. One person hit me, and then after another few yards the other guy would come in. It was pretty much impossible to do the things I normally do."

Central offensive tackle Jaylen Flye-Sadler said the line got worn down by much bigger Webb City defensive line as the game went on. The end result was Central quarterback Peyton Montgomery had to scramble for much of the game.

"I felt like some plays we gave it a 100 percent effort and some plays we were lackadaisical," Flye-Sadler said. "They definitely did their job, and we didn't do ours. They busted through a few times and all we had to do was stay positive and get back in the game. We made mistakes and they didn't. Every time we made mistakes, they made plays."

Norman said Webb City's stronger and faster line was just too much to handle for four quarters.

"As the game goes on their size and power just takes over. It just wears you down," Norman said. "And I thought our kids competed and did everything that we asked them to do. But hey, they're good."

Young also hauled in two interceptions and had 71 interception return yards, including a 41-yard return with five minutes remaining in the first quarter, which set up Central's second touchdown of the game. Young took the deflected pass off the hands of senior receiver Kiante Hardin at the Central 10 and returned it 90 yards for an apparent touchdown, but an illegal block on the play negated about half of the yardage.

"I was watching film for a long time last night," Young said. "I just watched how they ran their routes and I was just waiting on some of those balls to come my way so we could have a chance."

Norman said Young's play kept Central in the game early on against a Webb City team that had not given up more than 15 points all season.

"He's a playmaker and he does what he has to do whether that's on offense or defense," Norman said. "That's his job. He's a corner and he's got to make plays back there and he did."

At times, Young found himself playing defense when Central had the ball.

Central quarterback Peyton Montgomery's first pass to Young came in the first quarter and was nearly intercepted by Hardin, who had both hands on the ball in midair but had it stripped away by Young before he could complete the catch.

"It's hard playing against him just because he kind of reminds me of myself," Young said. "We both go for the ball. I know if he's going in the air I have to go in the air and make sure he don't get the interception."

Norman said Central noticed the double-team on Young early and adjusted to it by getting other players involved in the offense.

"That's what you have to do. When you're on a football team you have to have multiple guys getting involved," Norman said. "You're not going to be able to get it to one guy. Everybody on the stadium knows that Al Young can make it happen and that's who they're going to focus on. You have to have somebody who can step up and make plays."

Central receivers Kway'Chon Chisom and Jalen Reddin both got involved for the Tigers.

Chisom grabbed two passes for 56 yards, including a 39-yard catch to the Webb City 1, which set up a touchdown run for Montgomery in the first quarter. Reddin's only catch of the day was a 38-yard touchdown pass from Montgomery with 2 minutes, 16 seconds to play in the third quarter.

"I knew that they were going to double-team our offense, so I just told [Young] we have to get them on defense if you can't do it on offense," Reddin said. "There were a few plays where I just knew I was going to be open, but a lot of times we had to cut down on our routes because I would look and Peyton would be scrambling."

Young said he was proud to see the rest of the receiving corps step up.

"They're some great receivers right there," Young said. "Whenever we play a team, they just all try to cover me and they just don't know we have other guys that are good receivers also. They showed up tonight. Next year we're going to come out with more power. We know what it takes to get here, and we're going to try and make it happen again next year."