Zai’Aire Thomas, Cape Central throttle St. Dominic in Kent Gibbs’ 200th-career win

Cape Central senior Zai'Aire Thomas sprints down the near sideline for a 62-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game in a 47-0 shutout victory over St. Dominic on Friday, Sept. 27. Thomas had 280 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone as the Tigers improved to 5-0 on the season.

Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

As rain pounded the field during Friday night’s non-conference battle between Cape Central and St. Dominic, senior Zai’Aire Thomas decided to steal the show.

Cool, calm, and collected, the speedy all-purpose back churned up the yards as the Tigers pounded Class 6 foe St. Dominic, 47-0, in front of their rain-soaked home crowd at a quarter-filled Tigers Stadium on Homecoming night.

Thomas rewarded those who braved the elements, as he posted a season-best performance behind 280 rushing yards (25.4 yards per carry) and four touchdowns in two quarters of action to help Cape Central (5-0) remain unbeaten on the season.

“In all honesty, I hate the cold,” Thomas said. “Props to Keyshawn because they keyed on him a lot, so anytime they key on one of us, the other one's going be wide open the whole game. We came out here and executed what we needed to. We had a great week of practice.”

Thomas’ most entertaining play of the night might have been the first one of the game when he received the handoff on an end-around and juked past a lunging linebacker at midfield to get into the clear and bolt into the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown.

“I've said this before, but we're blessed to have the two running backs we have,” head coach Kent Gibbs said. “We felt like Zip might be able to help us in the backfield more than spread out, and that was before all the storms came. He answered the bell and did what he needed to do, and just kind of kept piling on. The thing about Keyshawn is he had some awfully good runs tonight. They had some things in the box that wasn't going to let him break through so many big runs, which was enabling us to get outside.”

The night was not just a special one for Thomas, but for Gibbs as well. The tenured high school head coach earned his 200th-career victory, receiving a celebratory Gatorade bath at midfield from his players as time expired.

“It's special to be at Cape Central," he said. "Obviously football's kind of been my whole life from a professional point of view. I like being with the kids. I like hanging out at practice and doing the things we do and these kids have really responded. We went through a couple rough years, and they've come on and got well in the weight room. I'm proud of them, really proud.”

Another thing that made Gibbs proud on Friday was his defense, who applied nonstop pressure all four quarters for the fifth game this season. The Tigers held St. Dominic to under 200 total yards — allowing them to cross midfield just once in the first half — and snuffed out the Crusaders’ dynamic passing attack by holding quarterback Brennan Czeschin to just 22 passing yards and an interception on a mere two completions.

It was the Tigers’ third shutout of the season as well.

“Anytime you play defense like we're playing defense right now, you’re going to be in a position to win ball games,” Gibbs said.

The Cape Central rushing attack then left St. Dominic in the dust. Thomas used his breakaway speed to his advantage and scored the first four touchdowns of the game, while dual-threat quarterback Deklin Pittman and all-state running back Keyshawn Boyd each added touchdown runs of their own to put the finishing touches on an utterly dominant 41-0 first half.

Soon enough, it was 47-0 midway through the third quarter, with backups littering both lineups the rest of the way.

Pittman finished with 86 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Boyd racked up 88 yards on 13 carries to go along with his lone score. Junior running back Torrance Murray and backup quarterback Chapman Ogles both combined for over 30 rushing yards in the second half, too.

Next up: Jackson.

Thomas said that it’s the one game that the Tigers have had circled on their calendar since the preseason.

“Coach said it in the huddle — it’s Jackson week,” he said. “Until districts time, that's the biggest game of the year, and especially this year since it’s my senior year. That's going to be the one to watch.”

Cape Central will host the Indians next Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 pm.