Cape Central football having historic turnaround in 2022

Sunday, November 13, 2022

The Cape Central football team celebrates following a 22-16 win over Poplar Bluff in the Class 5 District 1 championship Friday at Cape Central High School.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

Back on Friday, Sept. 23 the Cape Central Tigers suffered their third loss in four games at the hands of the Jackson Indians.

The Tigers sat at 2-3 and were averaging 21.8 points per game through five games.

Following the loss to Jackson in September, Tigers coach Kent Gibbs wasn’t impressed with the way his offense had been playing.

“We turned the ball over and we weren’t consistent enough offensively,” Gibbs said following the game against the Indians. “I just think (Jackson) is a good football team and they’re better than we are right now.”

A switch flipped following Central’s loss to Jackson, and the Tigers would go on to win seven straight games while averaging 39.3 points per game during that span, including claiming the Class 5 District 1 championship on Friday night with a 22-16 win against Poplar Bluff.

Cape Central's Morgan Diamond and coach Kent Gibbs share a moment after defeating Poplar Bluff 22-16 in the Class 5 District 1 championship game Friday at Cape Central High School.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

“We just told our kids not to put so much importance on one game,” Gibbs said after the district championship game. “We learned from that and I just told the kids we have to move on to the rest of our schedule.”

Sophomore running back Zai’Aire Thomas was a driving force in the turnaround offensively for the Tigers and he found the end zone from four-yards out to open scoring Friday night to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Thomas wasn’t done, and with the score tied 7-7 he broke free for a 79-yard touchdown that sent the Tiger faithful into a frenzy.

“I think we left some points on the board but at the end of the day we won the district championship,” Gibbs said. “I’m super excited for our kids and super excited for all of these people out here. It’s an awesome feeling.”

With the Tigers down 16-14 early in the fourth senior quarterback Morgan Diamond stepped up with a four-yard rushing touchdown pushing Cape Central ahead 22-16.

Gibbs had high praise for his senior class for sticking with the program through tough times, including a 3-5 season in 2020 and a 2-7 season in 2021.

“They bring their lunch pail and a hard hat to work every day and they’re ready to go,” Gibbs said. “I really appreciate what they’ve done.”

The Tigers will put their seven-game winning streak on the line in the Class 5 state quarterfinals when they travel to take on MICDS on Saturday.

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Coach Gibbs wins everywhere he goes.

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Mon, Nov 14, 2022, at 8:37 AM
@BrahmaBull... what has he won?? I'm pretty sure he has a losing record as a head coach overall..

-- Posted by Ohweeohahaha on Tue, Nov 15, 2022, at 8:27 AM
He has won enough to be in Missouri’s Hall of Fame. Gibbs has been good for the program. He weathered several years of adversity to get a District Championship. Well earned Coach!

-- Posted by Sagamore on Tue, Nov 15, 2022, at 4:23 PM
Coach Gibbs has a estimated 175 -140 Career record at Fredericktown/Hayti/Sik and Cape C…not sure if he has coached anywhere else!

-- Posted by indian73 on Tue, Nov 15, 2022, at 10:26 PM
Coach Gibbs is class act and always been a heck or a nice guy. I'm glad they out him in the HOF. Glad to be proven wrong in his record overall as well. @Indian73 how'd you find that stat?? I'm curious as to other old ball coaches records now

-- Posted by Ohweeohahaha on Wed, Nov 16, 2022, at 7:50 AM
Probably why you should have facts before popping off that you're 'pretty sure' about something.

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Wed, Nov 16, 2022, at 8:24 AM
@BrahamaBull butthurt are we... Well I know most of his years ar Sikeston and Cape were losing seasons.. That's also why I asked @Indian73 where they got their stats so I could verify this because that could be false. But stay butthurt their Cape Alum.. You should be more worried about playing a powerhouse of a parochial school MICDS tomorrow night then trying to get a rise out of me.. 😉

-- Posted by Ohweeohahaha on Thu, Nov 17, 2022, at 4:15 PM
Nah you don't concern me. Central may very lose tomorrow night. Won't know until the game is played. One thing is certain and that who isn't playing tomorrow night. "Pretty sure' of that.

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Thu, Nov 17, 2022, at 6:44 PM
Kent Gibbs, 62, head coach, Cape Girardeau Central Tigers football team. Gibbs, a 1975 Jackson High graduate, holds an undergraduate degree and a master’s in secondary administration from Southeast Missouri State. A three-time SEMO Conference coach of the year, he is a 2012 inductee into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. A head coach for 31 years, Gibbs came to Cape Central in 2019 after amassing an 85-49 record in a dozen seasons at Sikeston.

Straight from the Missourian, sure doesn't sound like a losing record. Sounds like Faux is spreading false news again.

-- Posted by RicardFranklin on Fri, Nov 18, 2022, at 4:24 PM
Patriot83 i thought that was the score also. It was an error by whoever typed it into Maxpreps.com. It's currently 7-7. So Central doing pretty good at the money.

-- Posted by RichardFranklin on Sat, Nov 19, 2022, at 3:01 PM
@BrahamaBull.. one thing for sure is Cape didn't even show up today.. losing 80 to 7 is a down right embarrassment!

-- Posted by Patriot83 on Sat, Nov 19, 2022, at 2:02 PM

Embarrassed yet????

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Sat, Nov 19, 2022, at 3:28 PM
14-10 isn't bad for a team faux and others said wouldn't even make it out of the district. Ft Osage is next. Wanna make another prediction faux or you gonna head to Vegas with you stellar predictions??

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Sat, Nov 19, 2022, at 3:32 PM
@BrahamaBull.. one thing for sure is Cape didn't even show up today.. losing 80 to 7 is a down right embarrassment!

-- Posted by Patriot83 on Sat, Nov 19, 2022, at 2:02 PM

Saved it for you faux before you deleted it.

-- Posted by BrahmaBull on Sun, Nov 20, 2022, at 7:11 AM

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