Cape Central attempted to make quick work of DeSoto on its homecoming.

But the Tigers scored eight first-half touchdowns, stopping the clock early and often en route to a 56-7 victory — their third straight — on Friday at Cape Central High School.

"It was a good game for us to have at this particular stage of the season," Tigers coach Kent Gibbs said. "It's all about trying to be sharp and get ready for districts. We talked to the kids about just going out and playing. Offensively, we had that pick early, but other than that we did some good things. I'm proud of the fact that we won the game, we got everybody else in and had no injuries."

Senior quarterback Morgan Diamond threw an interception on Central's first drive, but was near perfect from then on, throwing for three touchdowns.

Diamond hit Marquel Murray on a screen pass which Murray took 28-yards for a touchdown with 7:57 left in the first. The senior signal caller threw for two more scores, a six-yarder to senior Max Vogel and a 39-yarder to senior Clayton McClard.

Diamond finished the game 5-for-8 through the air with 103 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

"I feel real good about how Morgan plays once he gets through those opening jitters," Gibbs said. "After he gets out and plays a little defense, he seems to do a little bit better. He's a leader of our offense and he's a leader of our team. He's done a great job in the weight room and he deserves success."

Sophomore running back Zai'Aire Thomas scored three times on the ground, once from three yards out — set up by a long pass from Diamond to Vogel — once from 31 and once from 23. Thomas finished with 84 yards on 10 carries.

"The thing about Zip is we've got to continue to find ways to get him the ball in space," Gibbs said. "One of the things that's helped us is being able to use Keyshawn (Boyd) in the backfield with him."

Boyd got in on the fun as well, scoring two touchdowns of his own in the second quarter. The freshman running back reached the end zone on runs of 44 and 22 yards, totaling 68 yards on four carries.

"Keyshawn plays like an older kid," Gibbs said. "Physically, he's ahead of kids. He's very unselfish, very coachable and he's always willing to do whatever he needs to do. That's been a big help for us these last three or four games as we've gotten better."

The turnover bug bit DeSoto hard in the second quarter, as the Tigers were able to recover three Dragons fumbles in the second half. Central took advantage of the turnovers, scoring five touchdowns within eight minutes in the second quarter.

"Takeaways are huge," Gibbs said. "I know they had some substitutions that had some issues on some fumbles and things. At the end of the day, those takeaways are things that really steal you points and that's what happened with us tonight. We were able to stop them, we were able to get takeaways and we took advantage of those by scoring."

Cape Central has won three straight and needs one more win to triple its win total from last season.

"Our kids are playing with more confidence," Gibbs said "You can just see it. You can see it on the practice field, you see it in the games and we're gradually getting a little bit better, but we've got a long way to go."

Cape Central (5-3) will travel to Potosi next Friday to face the Trojans (3-5) for their season finale.