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Behind Cape Central football’s remarkable defensive start
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Cape Central cornerback Matayo Rivers celebrates with his teammates following an interception against St. Dominic on Friday, Sept. 27.
Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com
As legendary University of Alabama head football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant once said, “offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.”
Cape Central football’s recipe for success so far this season is simple: pound the rock and play defense at a very high level. That formula has elevated the Tigers to a flawless 5-0 mark and the unanimous top spot in the latest Semoball rankings.
While much of program’s identity still revolves around a lethal rushing attack, fans watching Cape Central football this year feel it’s the other side of the ball that is dominating just as much.
Though the offense is scoring at an absurd rate (45.8 points per game) with big names such as Keyshawn Boyd and Zai’Aire Thomas, the Tigers’ defense is more than matching that standard.
Through five games this year, defensive coordinator Rich Payne’s unit has yielded just 4.4 points per game and three total points in the first half, and has held all five opponents to under 200 total yards. Not a single program in the Bootheel is close to matching those numbers.
So, what’s been the trick to this high-level production?
Head coach Kent Gibbs said it boils down to improvements in three key areas: getting stronger, more experienced, and more bought in.
“Coach (Aaron) King has done just an excellent job of getting kids stronger in the weight room,” he said. “So, I think from a physical point of view, we haven't been overmatched. I think the second part of that is some of these guys that are seniors have played through those two semifinal years, and we got a lot of experience.
“The other thing is the whole attitude of playing defense. Sometimes you want to be an offensive guy to get your name in the paper, but our guys have really done a good job of buying in on defense and buying into our scheme. And for the most part, we feel like we've been pretty assignment sharp. When you do that and you're aggressive, very few times if you see a ball carrier getting tackled — unless it's a long pass downfield — do you not see five or six black helmets right there at the ball carrier.”
Of course, this is not a process that happened over night, either. The way the staff developed its talent, as well as the overall scheme, needed some tweaking.
“For years and years, I was a 4-2-5 guy, and I ran a 4-2-5 my whole career,” Gibbs said. “Then, we just took a look at it. We felt like we were playing so many guys both ways that we sometimes ran out of linemen with four down on defense and some backups, and then five on offense and you need backups. We were kind of short in that area. We also felt like with the 30 front, moving kids around schematically and also moving them in and out of what their alignments may or may not be would help us.”
Since adopting that 30 front, or 3-4-4 defense, two years ago, it has worked wonders for Cape Central, specifically this season.
The 3-4 defensive structure finds new wings in the modern era of explosive offenses at the high school level and is fabricated to stopping the run if the right personnel are in place. And, as Gibbs will be the first to admit, a great defense beginning in the trenches isn’t any less true today than it was a decade ago.
“We're big on controlling the line of scrimmage, whether it's offense or defense,” Gibbs said. “We’re able to run the ball because of what we do up front and we feel the same way defensively. A lot of times the assignments of those three guys up front — Cartez, Demarion, Zeke, and Malachi — their job is to occupy and take care of their gap responsibility. They're doing a really good job of that, and that's why you see some of our linebackers with the amount of tackles that they have.”
What also makes this Cape Central defense special is its depth of talent. There's no standout superstar that takes over the ball game, but rather a unit stocked with contributors across the starting 11.
The front features a handful of returning players, such as Malachi Smoot and Cartez Hopkins who've combined for four sacks and nearly 50 tackles. Linebacker Shawn Shelton is coming off an 11-tackle performance against St. Dominic. Senior Gavin Pittman leads the team in stops, while fellow defensive backs BJ Morris, Breijon Clemons, and Matayo Rivers each have an interception to their name.
Jackson (3-2), anchored by a potent rushing attack behind Jaylon Hampton and Zach Crump, figures to be the Tigers’ toughest opponent of the regular season. Cape Central’s defense has had months to build to this point in the fall and can make a statement in the critical rivalry tilt Friday night at 7 pm at Tigers Stadium.
Matching up with the Indians both physically and execution-wise will be the difference.
“We’re not going to get real complicated in what we try and do on either side of the ball,” Gibbs said. “We want to be solid on special teams. We want to take care of the ball on offense and run it, and then we want to stop the run on defense. That's going to be hard to do this week. We feel like they're really good up front. They've got two really good running backs and a quarterback that likes to run the football. If you compress in there a little bit too much and worry about the run, they're going to go over the top with you on the deep ball. So, it'll be a story."
While Cape Central’s defense currently stands as the class of 2024’s high school football season in Southeast Missouri, this Friday will determine just how championship-ready these Tigers truly are.