POTOSI, Mo. — Cape Central fought back from a two-score deficit to beat Potosi 34-27 on the road Friday to close out the regular season.

The Tigers struggled early, failing to score twice with the ball near the goal line.

"We were down on the goal line twice and didn't get points," Central coach Kent Gibbs said. "One time we threw a pick and another time we had three holding calls that pushed us back."

Central trailed 13-6 at halftime, and the Trojans scored again early in the second half to put the Tigers down two scores.

Cape didn't lay down, taking advantage of an interception by Gavin Pittman and a blocked punt and interception by Deklin Pittman.

Senior Clayton McClard also came through in a big way for Cape Central, returning a kickoff 97 yards before being brought down and laying out to make a diving touchdown catch.

"He works extremely hard," Gibbs said of McClard. "Every day, whatever he's doing, he's going to work really hard. ... I'm telling you what he does, it always seems like when we need him most he makes big plays. That's exactly what he did tonight, twice."

The Tigers' offense found success both through the air and on the ground.

Senior quarterback Morgan Diamond was 8-for-14 passing with 118 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also carried the ball 13 times for 66 yards. Marquel Murray led the Tigers in receiving yards with 71 on five catches.

Sophomore running back Zai'Aire Thomas continued to impress, rushing for 166 yards and two scores while also catching a 30-yard touchdown pass. Freshman Keyshawn Boyd added another touchdown on the ground to round out scoring for Central.

With the victory, the Tigers (6-3) tripled their win total from 2021.

"I'm really proud of them," Gibbs said. "It's easy to get down and finger point and that kind of thing, and a lot of people probably did that, but our kids didn't. They just hung in there. They worked hard in the weight room over the summer and got a little bit of confidence about them."

Cape Central will be the third seed heading into next week's Class 5 District 1 opener against sixth-seeded Mehlville.

"We've just got to continue to work on the fundamentals and get better," Gibbs said. "You take them one at a time at this time of the year. ... I'm sure that we're going to have our hands full no matter who we play, but we're just going to continue to get better and have good practices."