Central goes to Quapaw for playoffs
The Central Tigers are headed to Quapaw for their first challenge of the postseason against the Wildcats at 7 p.m. Friday.
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
The Central Tigers are headed to Quapaw for their first challenge of the postseason against the Wildcats at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Wildcats are coming off a 46-7 win at Hulbert, and own a 9-1 regular-season record, with their only loss coming at Colcord in their District A-7 opener.
Central is going to Ottawa County off a 40-12 win over Canadian last week for Senior Night, and the Tigers have a 6-3 regular-season record and a 4-2 mark in District A-8 play.
The Wildcats rely primarily on a passheavy spread offense that’s anchored by senior quarterback Jackson Deringer’s 75% completion rate to his three favorite wide receivers behind a tough offensive line that’s capable of protecting coverage long enough to find an open receiver. Deringer has racked up an impressive 2,654 yards so far this year, and he spreads the football around, starting with favorite target Zane Stand, whose averaging 103 yards receiving per game. The quarterback’s other prime receivers are Peyton Shapp, with more than 66 yards per game, and Seth Stand-Johnson, who snags catches at a clip of 55 yards per game.
Quapaw’s leading tackler is Caiden Porter, who averages more than 11 tackles per game, followed by Zane Stand with just over six stops and Jaxon Myrick with more than five tackles per game. The Wildcats have penetrated opposing O-lines for multiple losses and quarterback sacks.
“Offensively, we can’t turn it over and need to get our run game going,” explains Central head coach Jeremy Thompson. “It’s been good for us, and if we continue to do those things, everything will be fine.
“We know that Quapaw has talent at their skill positions – they’ve got three really good wide receivers,” Thompson said. “I think their quarterback has thrown for over 2,000 yards this year, he’s good. They’ve got some athletes, so we’ve got to defend the pass a lot better and get some pressure on him from our D-line.
“They throw the football a lot – that is their go-to, about 90% of the time they’re going to throw the football. They’re pretty solid up front, and we’ve got to find ways to get pressure on him, so that’ll be a key for us. Their passing game is pretty good all the way around. We just can’t give up big plays,” Thompson said.
“Our defensive team speed is really good across the board. They’ve got a few kids that can really run on their offensive side, but defensively, our team speed is one of our strengths, so we feel really good about it.
“Going into big games, our guys have stepped up in big games, so this will be another big night for us where we’ve got to do it again,” Thompson said. “We’re one week at a time right now, for sure. Definitely, we gotta go get this one.”
