Cape Central football team downs Farmington, wins third straight district title

Almost two hours before the opening kickoff of Friday night's Class 4 District 1 football championship, Cape Central wide receiver Al Young took to Twitter to make a bold prediction.

The tweet read, "About to go off," and Young followed through with his word.

The 6-foot senior ran, caught and returned an interception and a punt for a touchdown in the first half, leading the third-seeded Tigers to a 35-15 victory over fourth-seeded Farmington at Tiger Stadium.

"I just felt like I was about to go off," said Young, who's now been the linchpin for three straight district titles. "It was about to be the best game I had."

Cape Central's Al Young carries from the Farmington end zone for a 109-yard interception return during the second quarter of the Class 4 District 1 championship against Farmington Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

It was also the 40th career win for fifth-year coach Nathan Norman, who was quick to recognize his upperclassmen on making their third consecutive appearance in the state quarterfinals.

"Hats off to our seniors. What a great run they've had for us," Norman said. "They don't know anything else but district champs, and that's very impressive."

Central (8-4) forced a three-and-out on the opening possession and used one play to capitalize on a blocked punt. Young mishandled the ball in the backfield but regained possession and reversed field for a 25-yard touchdown run. Bennett Osburn, who was 5 for 5 on PATs, added the extra point to give the Tigers a 7-0 advantage with 9:38 to go in the first quarter.

Farmington (6-6) turned the ball over on the next play from scrimmage when Young intercepted quarterback Brandt Busenbark's pass at the Tigers' 22-yard line. Sophomore running back Aaron Harris scored on a 7-yard run, capping an eight-play, 78-yard scoring drive that pushed Central's lead to 14-0 with 6:04 remaining in the quarter.

Young took care of the rest.

On first-and-10, junior quarterback Kway'Chon Chisom bought some time by rolling to his left and connected with Young, who fought off single coverage to haul in a 28-yard pass in the left corner of the end zone, giving the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 2:48 left in the quarter.

Cape Central quarterback Kway Chon Chisom throws a pass that was caught by Al Young in the end zone for a touchdown against Farmington during the first quarter of the Class 4 District 1 championship Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"I was about to run, and I saw Al waving his hand. He actually called my name, and I heard him. So I threw the ball up to him," Chisom said. "It was an OK ball. It was in good position, but I knew he was going to go up and get it.

"It was a 50/50 ball. It's not really 50/50 when you're throwing it to Al. He's going to catch it."

Young added to Central's lead a little more than two minutes later when he corralled a booming punt at the Tigers' 23 and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown. Central led 28-0 at the end of the period.

"It was a total package in the first quarter," Norman said. "It might be the best first quarter I've seen -- offense, defense special teams. They did a great job."

The onslaught slowed down for most of the second quarter until three straight completions by Busenbark set the Knights up with a first-and-10 at the Tigers' 20. Young nabbed Busenbark's pass in the back of the end zone, and rather than safely taking a touchback, he stayed inbounds and returned the interception 109 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Tigers' lead to 35-0 at the break.

"I had all my blockers ahead of me, and Chisom just said, 'Go.' I just kept going," Young said. "They just kept blocking. I saw all green, and it happened."

Young finished with 92 yards from scrimmage on five touches and amassed more than 300 all-purpose yards. Central racked up 235 yards on the ground and averaged 6.5 yards per carry, led by Harris, who had a game-high 112 yards on 10 rushes. Chisom was 2-of-2 passing for 39 yards and also added 34 yards on eight carries.

Cape Central's Aaron Harris carries to the end zone for a touchdown with Farmington's Gage Blount in tow during the first quarter of the Class 4 District 1 championship Friday, Nov. 6, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"They go to work every day," Norman said about his trio of standouts in Young, Harris and Chisom. "They're my best practice players, and that's what you want. They enjoy the game. They love the game. They love practice. They love football, and they work hard out there."

The Knights put together a 16-play drive that extended late into the fourth quarter to end the Tigers' bid for a shutout. Brandt Busenbark had a 10-yard touchdown run with 3:31 to go in the game and connected with Brayden Krause on a 27-yard touchdown pass with one second remaining. Busenbark threw for 175 yards on 16-of-26 passing but was intercepted four times, twice by Young. Chisom, Tyler Banks and Austin Parker each had an interception for Central.

Busenbark was sacked four times but accounted for 82 of his team's 90 yards rushing. Farmington was held to 2.9 yards per carry on 31 attempts.

"It says that we're together, 100 percent," Tigers senior defensive lineman Patrick Buck said about his team's defense. "We get out on the field. We slap hands, say we're going to do it together, and we do it together. The light's not on one person. You can see it in the game. We gang tackle together. We get excited afterwards. We celebrate with each other.

"We're a band of brothers on the defense."

The Tigers have won six of their last seven games and will host a state quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Friday against Affton (11-1). The Cougars upended visiting Vashon 36-12 in the Class 4 District 2 championship.

"I'm just super proud of the kids and how they've responded from the beginning of the year. We started off with some struggles," Norman said. "... We said we want to be best at Week 10, and I feel like we are right now. We're playing our best football in the playoffs, and that's what you want.

"You want to be fresh. You want to be hungry, and they're playing good football."

Farmington 0 0 0 15 -- 15

Cape Central 28 7 0 0 -- 35

First quarter

CC -- Al Young 25 run (Bennett Osburn kick), 9:38

CC -- Aaron Harris 7 run (Osburn kick), 6:04

CC -- Young 28 pass from Kway'Chon Chisom (Osburn kick), 2:48

CC -- Young 77 punt return (Osburn kick), 0:44

Second quarter

CC -- Young 109 interception return (Osburn kick), 0:48

Fourth quarter

F -- Brandt Busenbark 10 run (Brayden Krause kick), 3:31

F -- Krause 27 pass from Busenbark (Krause run), 0:01

F CC

First downs 13 10

Rushes-yards 31-90 36-235

Passing yards 175 39

Passes 2-2-0 16-27-5

Punts-average 2-33.5 3-32.7

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1

Penalties-yards 3-25 3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Farmington, Busenbark 19-82, Krause 9-3, Brayden Moon 1-2, Gavin Duncan 1-2, William Siebert 1-1; Cape Central, Harris 10-112, Young 3-53, Chisom 8-34, Felawn Smith 9-17, Joseph Baker 3-9, Trent Leimer 2-6, Christian Mitchell 1-4.

PASSING -- Farmington, Busenbark 16-26-175-4, Krause 0-1-0-1; Cape Central, Chisom 2-2-39-0.

RECEIVING -- Farmington, Moon 4-73, Krause 5-64, Logan Dotson 2-16, Duncan 2-13, Cody Friedmeyer 1-4, Donovan Howard 1-3, Seibert 1-2; Cape Central, Young 2-39.