I have been with the Standard Democrat sports department since 2007. I took over as sports editor in May of 2011 and have been slightly crazy about sports since I can remember. I attended Southeast Missouri State University and Scott County Central High School. I co-created our sports web show "The Last Word" and my two children, Elijah and CJ. I was married to my wife, Angie, in May of 2014. I love to golf, I am an avid NBA2K gamer and root for the Fighting Irish on Saturdays.

What we learned from Week 2

Posted Monday, September 9, 2013, at 5:19 PM

Here's a few tidbits I picked up on following Week 2 action of the area high school football scene.

We learned that the East Prairie Eagles didn't forget how to win big.

What a way to get off the snide. Following a dismal 19-game losing streak, the Eagles broke through in a big way against Grandview 43-8. It's their first win since Week 2 of the 2011 season against, you guessed it, Grandview. East Prairie seems to be stacked with young talent featuring sophomore quarterback Brett Ellis and do-it-all freshman Deverence Jones. I'll get to see them first-hand this Friday when they go to Scott City, but for now congrats to coach Jamerson and the Eagles.

We learned Sikeston's defense is still a Sikeston defense.

The Bulldogs have yet to allow 100 yards of offense against them -- in two games combined. Against Charleston they allowed just 67. Friday against NMCC, 25. I know when people think about the great Sikeston teams of the past few years, quarterback play and tons and tons of yards instantly come to mind. But the Bulldogs 'D' has been a step above and it's had to be of late. The unfortunate injury troubles plaguing starting running back Chris Word and backup Peyton Boyd left Sikeston's offense at a standstill Friday. Sikeston's defense, and the emergence of third string running back Courtney Hawkins, pushed the Bulldogs to a 2-0 record. It'll be interesting to see how the defense stacks up against a primarily passing offense, which they'll see against Dexter this week, but my money says they hold their own.

We also learned that Charleston hasn't lost a step.

Coming off of their lopsided loss to Sikeston in Week 1, the Charleston Bluejays showed little signs of a second week slump after a 34-6 win over a young, but solid Hayti Indian team. The Bluejays did what they do best -- run. They rushed for over 140 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns. There wasn't a dominant individual performance, rather a collective effort from all of the Bluejays' stable of running backs, Robert Bogan, Delfincko Bogan, Rontavious Clark and Demontrail Clark. Although the run looked to be back on point, I was impressed with Charleston's all-around play. Their defense was solid against the pass-happy Indians, who went 6 of 26 in the air. Charleston came up with three interceptions which included a "pick 6" by Delfincko Bogan, who had two total int's. Charleston may not simply be known as 'the running team' of the area if their defense keeps progressing. But, they have a tough test ahead when they go to Caruthersville to face the state-ranked and district foe Tigers.

We learned that Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery is now (or became) a member of the 200-win club.

Call it brushing over the details or what have you, but Chaffee's 58-15 win over Grandview in Week 1 was Vickery's 200th career coaching win. I was informed of his feat Friday following their 31-14 win over St. Pius X, which made career victory 201. Vickery won 156 games as Sikeston's head football coach. Following his 26-year career with the Bulldogs, he took over Chaffee for a second time in 2005. Kudos to coach Vick. He's been a coaching staple for all young guys to look up to for years now and he'd done it the right way. I look for him to continue to add to that total with this year's version of the Red Devils, who have spouted off two impressive wins so far this season.

What we learned: Rapid fire.

We learned that Jackson couldn't stop the revenge factor from Vianney.

We learned that Kennett coach Aaron Pixley earned his first Indian win. (Their 26-6 victory over Portageville was Kennett's first win that Pixley actually had a hand in. Dexter went 13-0 against Kennett when he was the Bearcat head coach. They also went 0-10 the year Pixley was a Kennett assistant.)

We also learned that two very tough road tests for Cape Central ended in two tough losses. They open at home against conference counterpart Poplar Bluff this week.

And finally, we learned that Caruthersville will be just fine following their 32-7 pounding of Malden. We were also reminded Caruthersville fans really don't like being challenged by the fellow media. (All in good fun, right guys?)

As always, thanks for reading. I'll have the media Pick 'Em up later this week.