As Capital City continues to build its varsity football program, people like senior running back Ethan Wood exemplify the kind of player the Cavaliers can count on.
During Capital City's 35-6 loss to Kansas City Center on Friday night at Adkins Stadium, Wood was reliable, consistent and tough. He ran hard between the tackles, ran hard outside, and didn't make any big mistakes, racking up 99 yards and a touchdown run on 35 carries.
And he did it all in his first serious action as he returns from an injury.
"He's a tough kid, he's a hard-nosed kid," Cavaliers head coach Joe Collier said. "You can see that work ethic from his family and why he's the way he is. Just a hard-working kid, he's been built like that."
Wood's ability to take care of the ball was important, both in Friday's game and for the team mentally. He missed the opening week game at Warrensburg with an injury, and Capital City (0-2) fumbled the ball seven times, losing five.
Those mistakes gave the Tigers plenty of short-field opportunities.
Kansas City Center found ways to score, but they had to work for them on Friday. Wood's legs constantly churned forward, helping move the chains.
"He hasn't been able to practice how he wants," Collier said. "We really had to take things step by step with him, and tonight was really his first time full going."
Wood absorbed and gave out blows all game long, and was hardly ever the victim of a solo tackle. He missed just one Cavaliers offensive series in the contest, and got the first touch on the other eight Capital City drives.
He was, simply put, the team's offensive engine: a player everyone else relies on to make plays and a steadying presence for the offense.
"As the night went on, you could see him running a little bit harder and harder and harder, and getting back to himself," Collier said. "Hopefully next week we see some more improvement (after) we rest him up and then see what we can do with him next week."
Wood indeed looked stronger as the night went on, and that was clear on Capital City's final drive of the game.
After taking over at their own 39 with 5:26 left in the game, the Cavaliers did what they had done all night: count on Wood to lead them down the field.
He picked up 21 yards on three carries to start the drive and move across midfield, then on the fourth play of the drive Wood found 11 yards with weaves and cut-backs, showing off his elusiveness.
After recharging on the sideline for two plays, Wood re-entered, powering into the end zone up the middle to get the Cavaliers on the board with :16 left in the game.
"He had to persevere through some things physically," Collier said. "So just to be able to do that, long, hard night, we didn't get the victory we wanted, but it was good to reward him with that. He got some big runs late there so it was good to see that."
Though the deciding factor of the game was the Yellowjackets capitalizing on big pass plays in the first half, Capital City quarterback Hayden Carroll and receivers Ethyn Otto, Robert Gray and Cameron Harrison also had some success.
Gray (four catches, 47 yards), Otto (five catches, 44 yards) and Harrison (three catches, 34 yards) connected to keep Center's defense honest and balance out Wood's production.
"That's the positive," Collier said of his team's passing attack. "That's the thing, you can get down on yourself about losing that game, or you can build on some things and tonight I choose to kind of build on the positives. We did get the ball out, we did get the ball to some receivers and see some things in the receivers that we can do."
The Cavaliers open Central Missouri Activities Conference play Friday at Hickman.