For Cape Central, it's time to get nasty.

Not cheating nasty. Or no-deodorant, green-teeth nasty.

Just hard-hittin', clean-their-clock, make-'em-cry-for-mama nasty.

If the Tigers play that brand of football, Central coach Lawrence Brookins believes his team is capable of pulling off an upset tonight when it travels to New Madrid County Central, ranked sixth in Class 3A. The kickoff is slated for 7:30.

"We need to turn it into a smashmouth, physical thing for four quarters," Brookins said, adding that when it comes to overall team speed, the Eagles have a slight advantage. "If you hit speed in the mouth enough, it'll get slower."

Cape Central has somewhat of a score to settle after NMCC crushed the Tigers 34-7 at Houck Stadium last year. In a game where the Tigers fumbled handoffs and snaps and missed wide-open tackles, this particular game last year was perhaps the lowest point of Central's 1-9 season.

But a lot has happened in a year.

New Madrid graduated all-state running back Ricky Smith who dominated the Tigers last year. And Cape Central, beginning with the New Madrid game last year, has been committed to bringing the program back to respectability.

The Tigers got off on the right track last week when they ended an 11-game home losing streak by demolishing St. Charles West 35-0. It was Central's first shutout since 1997.

"Our kids needed that so bad," Brookins said.

Quarterback Byron Minner is the focal point and the best athlete on the speedy New Madrid offense. Minner is no doubt the best rushing quarterback in the region and one of the best in the state.

"Can we tackle them is the big thing," said Brookins. "Will our kids be disciplined enough to fill the holes and make them commit first?"

New Madrid defeated a struggling Mt. Vernon, Ill., squad 44-0 a week ago.

"We're happy that we won, but it was an extremely tough game on us," said New Madrid coach Ronnie Jones. "It really showed the lack of depth we had on the offensive and defensive lines and that's very much a concern for us. We ended up spot-playing freshmen just to give our older guys a break."

As far as Central is concerned, Jones knows he'll be facing a much tougher team this year.

"There's no doubt they're going to be a better team than we faced last year," said Jones. "They're quicker than they were last year and judging from the game film, they seem to be having a lot more fun out there. They were flying around, gang tackling and patting each other on the back. They act like they want to play the game."

Along with New Madrid's overall speed, which also includes running back Dereke Tipler who returned two punts and a fumble for touchdowns last week, the Eagles also have good size.

The front five is led by T.J. Sides, a 6-foot-5, 275 pounder. He will be joined by Scott Steward (5-10, 215), Joey Higgerson (5-11, 195), Tim Chism (5-10, 245), Chad Nolen (6-1, 255) and Derrell Minner (6-5, 175) at tight end.

On the injury front, Cape Central receiver/defensive back Zac Fidler will be back in the starting lineup this week after missing the opener with a knee injury.