OAKVILLE, Mo. — The Cape Central Tigers used an impressive defensive effort en route to a 25-12 win in the Class 5 District 1 semifinals over the Oakville Tigers on Friday night at Oakville High School.

Cape Central coach Kent Gibbs was pleased with the effort of his defense.

“I think our defense played better than our offense,” Gibbs said. “We were in the red zone way too many times and didn’t score and we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the football and completing passes.”

After a scoreless first quarter Cape Central struck first with a three-yard touchdown run from sophomore running back Zai’Aire Thomas to make it 6-0 Tigers.

The lead was short lived as Oakville quarterback Joey Bradley connected with Damien Moore just a minute later to tie the game 6-6.

Neither offense would strike again in the first half as both teams entered the locker room at halftime tied.

Just over two minutes into the second half, senior wide receiver Clayton McClard broke free for a 50-yard rushing touchdown putting Cape Central back in front 12-6.

With 12 minutes left to play, Central held a 12-6 lead. But once again, Oakville had an answer early in the fourth with a five-yard run from Moore to make it 12-12.

With just over six minutes to play, Cape Central’s defense forced a fumble, setting the offense up with a first-and-10 on Oakville’s 36-yard line.

Freshman running back Keyshawn Boyd rewarded the defense’s effort with a 30-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers an 18-12 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Gibbs credited previous close games for preparing his team for the closing moments tonight.

“We’ve done some of that stuff this year in tight ball games,” Gibbs said. “I think the experience of playing in tight ball games settles the nerves a little bit and we certainly performed at the end when we needed to.”

With Oakville looking to answer Cape Central senior Morgan Diamond intercepted an Oakville pass, allowing the Tigers to chew some clock.

The dagger came with less than two minutes remaining when Diamond dashed to the end zone for a six-yard run to give Central a 25-12 lead.

Gibbs praised his team’s work ethic all season long.

“You start every year wanting to play for a district championship,” Gibbs said. “We just kept getting better and better and the kids just kept working. We made a lot of mistakes tonight but the bottom line is we get to play another week and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Cape Central (8-3) will host Poplar Bluff (6-5) in the Class 5 District 1 Championship at 7 p.m. Friday night. It will be Central’s first district championship appearance since 2019 when the Tigers lost to Farmington.

“We just have to keep our heads about us,” Gibbs said. “We need to eliminate some of the mistakes we made tonight and have a good week of practice. Nobody expected us to be in the district championship game. We just have to go play and have a good time.”