Central shuts out St. Charles West

Central senior fullback Rodney Reynolds said the Tigers' rushing attack overwhelms opponents because it features speed and power.

So does Reynolds bring speed or power?

"A little of both," he said.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pounder flashed his speed on a pair of lengthy touchdown runs in Central's 47-0 victory over St. Charles West on Friday.

"The kid can run," Central coach Rich Payne said about Reynolds. "He's got some speed. He's got speed that's kind of deceiving speed."

Central's Deonte Jenkins cuts while carrying the ball during the first quarter of Friday's game against St. Charles West.

Reynolds ran through the center of the offensive line and raced 85 yards for a score to put his team ahead 14-0. He said his plan on the play was simple -- follow Chris Bird, the Tigers' 6-3, 310-pound lineman.

"It was the line," Reynolds said. "They just opened it up for me. I run behind Big Bird. That's it. I cut off Big Bird and I be gone."

Reynolds finished with 139 yards on four carries.

"It's our basic fullback trap," Payne said. "They were playing our perimeter game pretty hard. The trap is the base of the Wing-T offense. You run the trap, you run the sweep, you run the other things that come off that. That's the very first play we put in offensively. They didn't defend it very well and we blocked it exceptionally well.

"Both tackles actually got up on the linebackers. And when they get up on the linebackers and we actually get the trap on the interior line of scrimmage, it can be a home run."

Central's Jeremy Lamb, left, and Von Martin, right, close in for the sack on St. Charles West quarterback Anthony Richardson during the first quarter Friday at Houck Stadium. Central won 47-0. (Kristin Eberts)

Central's defense set the table for the offense in the early going. Senior Michael Reeder picked off Warriors quarterback Anthony Richardson on West's third play of the game.

The Tigers turned that into a 7-0 lead when Christian Cavaness rolled out and found Zach Boerboom in the back of the end zone for a score. It was a little redemption for Boerboom, who dropped a touchdown pass two plays earlier.

West tried to answer with a time-consuming drive that stalled after 13 plays and ended with a punt. Reynolds broke his 85-yarder on the first play from scrimmage after the kick.

Reeder picked off his second pass three plays later when teammate Austin Davis drilled the Warriors receiver, which caused the ball to come loose. Reeder grabbed it for his second pick of the night.

"I just dropped back in my coverage like my coach tells me to," Reeder said. "The ball got thrown right where I was supposed to be. I've got to thank my safety, Austin Davis, for my second one. It just makes it a lot easier when the defense is helping out the offense."

Central quarterback Christian Cavaness looks to pass during the second quarter of Friday's game against St. Charles West.

James Poindexter made the Warriors pay for the second interception when he scampered into the left side of the end zone early in the second quarter for a 21-0 lead.

Davis recovered a fumble on the Warriors' first play from scrimmage, but they intercepted Cavaness on the next play to regain the ball.

"I didn't think this would happen," West coach Gary Strauss said. "I thought we would play them much better. I thought we were ready to play a better game. But I have to take my hat off to them. They just came out and physically beat us."

The Warriors suffered through a streak of 14 consecutive incompletions that started late in the first quarter and didn't end until Richardson completed a 9-yard pass on the last play of the third quarter.

"Defensively, we worked all week on the option run," Reeder said. "When they came out and didn't really run it and mainly ran pass plays, we were just fine because we worked on that too. We've got a very good secondary."

Central's defense was forced to work overtime in the first half because of the offense's explosiveness. Central only had the ball for 7 minutes, 29 seconds compared to 16 minutes, 31 seconds for the Warriors. Central's first-half scoring drives lasted seven play, one play, five plays, one play, two plays and three plays. The Tigers averaged 15.2 yards per play, and four of the 20 plays went for more than 30 yards in the first half.

Keilon Moore paced the Tigers with three touchdowns -- two rushing and one receiving. He finished with 83 yards on four carries with two scores and one catch for a 69-yard touchdown.

"I guarantee I'm going to see missed assignments, just mental errors," Strauss said. "When you've got backs of their caliber, you can't do that. Once they get into the secondary, it's twice as hard to get them down. They're good backs."

The Warriors ran 37 plays in the first half but only gained 79 yards, an average of 2.1 yards per play. West finished with 138 yards of offense.

"The zero up there on the scoreboard speaks for itself," Reeder said.

The Tigers last were 6-0 during the 1972 season, when they went 10-0 before losing in the first round of the playoffs. They were ranked No. 9 in the state entering this week's games.

"We don't even look at that," Reynolds said. "We know we were ranked. We look at it, take it in then forget about it."

St. Charles West 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Central 14 27 6 0 -- 47

First Quarter

C -- Zach Boerboom 14 pass from Christian Cavaness (Andrew Hileman), 7:34

C -- Rodney Reynolds 85 run (Hileman kick), 1:17

Second Quarter

C -- James Poindexter 10 run (Hileman kick), 10:23

C -- Keilon Moore 45 run (Hileman kick), 5:56

C -- Reynolds 46 run (Hileman kick), 4:38

C -- Moore 69 pass from Cavaness (kick failed), 1:29

Third Quarter

C -- Moore 26 run (kick failed), 8:22

W C

First downs 8 10

Rushes-yards 31-88 31-318

Passing yards 50 83

Passes 5-20-3 2-4-1

Punts 6-41.7 3-40.7

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-30 5-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- St. Charles West, Tony Treadway 15-46, Anthony Richardson 7-3, Marcus Taylor 2-8, Jeremy Gillies 3-7, Colby Vogt 1-8, Ahren Bohanan 2-14, Sam Mosley 1-2. Central, Keilon Moore 4-83, Deonte Jenkins 7-15, Christian Cavaness 1-2, James Poindexter 5-43, Rodney Reynolds 4-139, Michael Reeder 1-19, Garan Evans 2-3, Austin Martin 2-3, Eric Evans 3-4, Alex Davis-Carter 1-(-3), Jacob Cambell 1-10.

PASSING -- St. Charles West, Anthony Richardson 5-20-50-3. Central, Christian Cavaness 2-4-83-1.

RECEIVING -- St. Charles West, Aaron Burke 2-23, Tanner Davis 1-11, Shane Huddleston 1-7, Mike Gesell 1-9. Central, Zach Boerboom 1-14, Keilon Moore 1-69.