Yes, Caruthersville can score, but don't lose sight of that defense

As the Caruthersville High School football team has exploded offensively through its current four-game win streak, what the Tigers are doing defensively, which is dominating its opposition, can get lost in the onslaught of touchdowns.

The Tigers (7-3) are in the midst of their most successful season since 2019 and playing a stifling defense has been a major reason behind that success. They will need to continue that level of play, as they will travel to No. 1-seed Valle Catholic (8-1) in Ste. Genevieve on Friday at 7 p.m. in an MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 semifinal.

Caruthersville’s most recent win was a 49-7 thumping of a good Kelly squad in the District opener for both teams.

“We came out (defensively),” second-year Tiger coach Dom Guglielmio said following the win, “and were really physical and tackled (well).

“We got the job done.”

In that victory, sophomore Jackson Napier paced the Tigers with nine tackles while Bryant and junior Oscar Dominguez each added seven stops each.

Sophomore defensive lineman Jermaine Caruthers had five tackles and two sacks in the win.

“Jermaine is a physical specimen,” Guglielmio said of Caruthers. “He was fantastic.”

Caruthers is nearing 100 tackles for the season, which is impressive for a defensive lineman, according to Guglielmio.

“And he missed a game,” Guglielmio said of Caruthers’ impressive production. “I’m proud of Jermaine.”

In recent wins over Kelly, Charleston, Est Prairie, and Hayti, Caruthersville has scored 210 points but has only allowed 33 points.

Following the 54-6 win over the Blue Jays, Guglielmio was heaping praise on Caruthersville defensive coordinator Brad Treece.

“We have a great defensive coordinator,” Guglielmo said of Treece. “He schemed them up perfectly and those kids matched his intensity, which if you know anything about (Treece) that’s pretty hard.

“Those guys came in a played physical, and they wanted to smack some people around inside the box, and they did.”

In Gugliemio’s second season with the Tigers, he and his coaching staff have cut the offensive production by foes from nearly 37 points per game to just over 20 points allowed each week. This year’s defense is the best Tiger group since the 2016 unit, which finished 8-4.

“A lot of the (buy-in) comes from the kids,” Guglielmio said earlier this season of his program improving in a myriad of ways. “They get themselves warmed up now. They do all of the little things. They cleaned up the locker room on their own yesterday.

“It may seem like minor things, but when they are doing it on their own, and we’re not trying to be a pain for them to do this, and this, and this, then you are starting to roll.”

Caruthersville will need the three-way production of junior Jermonte Alexander against Valle Catholic.

Alexander injured his knee on the initial offensive play against Kelly and sat out the remainder of that game.

“(Alexander) is special,” Guglielmio told Semoball.com recently. “He’s a once-in-a-generation talent. That kid can do it all and that’s the kind of game that separates him from other people.

“I’m proud of his composure and the way he played. That kid didn’t come out of the game for a single break or nothing. He was in there working his tail off all night and showed everybody in the area why he deserved to be first-team all-state last year.”