Cape Central running game infallible as Tigers cruise to blowout at Farmington

Cape's Zai'Aire Thomas shakes a pair of Farmington defenders to score during a Friday, October 11, 2024 game between the Farmington Knights and the Cape Central Tigers at Farmington High School in Farmington, Mo. Cape Central defeated Farmington, 54-14.

Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

In the final game of the conference year, Cape Central (6-1) may have played its greatest game of the season to date as it blew the doors off Farmington (4-3), 54-14 on the road.

Shaking off back-to-back turnovers to start the game, utility back Zai’Aire Thomas got his head back up after an opening fumble to score three touchdowns in the first half.

That, plus another three touchdowns from junior running back KeyShawn Boyd, made this one just too much too fast for Farmington.

Building a 27-point lead by the break, the Tigers looked like a team reborn.

For a team that was so desperately in need of another spark, it’s a rekindled dream for the Tigers in a rolling win over a conference rival.

“The offensive line did a great job," coach Kent Gibbs said. "Deklin Pittman had a great night at quarterback, doing the running in our option game and throwing the football.

“Overall, you’ve got to be pleased with what we did.”

Farmington picked up just three first downs in the entire first half, with the triple-option-but-we’ll-throw-it-if-we-have-to Knights getting stymied by an unforgiving Central defensive line.

Thomas dropped the ball on the first drive, but the Central defense forced a 3-and-out punt on the ensuing drive to get the ball back.

Pittman tossed a pick on the next drive, no problem. Cape Central holds again, gets the rock back.

And that’s when it started, with Thomas scoring from 20-plus out to break open the scoring before the floodgates let up.

The next Tiger drive, Pittman tossed out to Thomas, who scanned down the field and found a wide-open Paul Tran for another long touchdown through the air.

After the game, Thomas was all smiles as he recalled the moment that put the Tigers up two scores and sent the Cape sideline into a frenzy.

“Man, I always wanted to play QB,” Thomas laughed.

“We run that play a couple of times a year, and it gets everybody on their toes. They're not looking for it.”

Judging by the 15-to-20 yards of space between Tran and the nearest defender, Thomas certainly seems sound in his claim that he caught the Knights off-guard, but he wasn’t done yet.

Just to be safe, the senior back got loose on a 3rd-and-11 inside the red zone, shook off two defenders and waltzed in for his third score of the half, putting Cape up big early in what was supposed to be a clash of powers.

It’s hard to imagine a much better first half for the Tigers, turning what was expected to be a tight matchup into a rout right away.

Cape got a quick stop and marched right back up the field, capitalized by a short run for KeyShawn Boyd to make the lead 27-0 before the half.

That energetic start is something that Cape needed to get back on the right foot after last week, and Gibbs emphasized how important it was in restarting the offense that got it there.

“You’ve always got to be a little bit concerned when you get your bubble burst, so to speak,” Gibbs said. “You get thumped pretty good after starting so well, certainly I was concerned.

“We had a lot of kids not play tonight through injuries, and then we started out turning the ball over a couple of times, you just don't know how they're gonna respond.

“But they responded.”

Josh McCarthy took the opening play of the second half 80 yards to the house for Farmington to cut the lead to 27-7.

Boyd promptly responded with his own long score, a 54-yard rushing touchdown, going untouched past the line of scrimmage as his blistering run put Central up 34-7 once more.

Trading blows, Farmington brought it closer once more as quarterback Brett Drye got a 4th-and-13 conversion on his feet before slinging it deep over the middle to Coy Fripp for the score.

Shocker, Thomas responded right back with a 20-yard receiving score as nobody even came close to contesting him, getting the lead back to 27.

One stop on downs later, Boyd added his third touchdown of the night to get that lead up to 47-14, with the Knights losing momentum quickly.

The win gave Central its third in conference play, finishing 3-1 for second in the SEMO North while Farmington dropped to a 2-2 finish in conference, good for third.

A turnover on downs on the next drive for Farmington on goal-to-go put this one to bed, because the very next play, Boyd took it up one more notch with a 95-yard rushing score to wind the turbo clock with Central now up 54-14.

It’s not uncommon to see one of these guys break out every week, but for both Boyd and Thomas to score four touchdowns in the same game is unprecedented.

“After a week like last week, when we didn't do anything the way we planned, coming back here and actually showing everybody what we're capable of feels good,” Thomas said.

Now with just two games left until the start of the postseason, it’s time for Central to ring in a new era as the time remaining until the real big games begin runs thin.

A record of 6-1 looks great on paper, but everyone who’s read the district assignments sheet has seen what a mighty task the Tigers have ahead of them.

After dispatching Farmington over an hour from home, the focus resets from conference titles to keying in on the little things that need to be fixed to put the Tigers in contending position.

If Friday was any showing of how late-Autumn football will look for CT, it’s a good omen.

“You get a little heady about yourself when you win five in a row,” Gibbs said. “You’ve just got to know that it really doesn't make any difference what you did last week. You’ve got to get better for the following week.

“For the most part, our kids have done that. We’ve got to take those lessons learned and continue to motivate ourselves to get better.”