Sikeston posts ugly win

SIKESTON - With district competition heating up next week, the Sikeston Bulldogs were looking for a sharp performance on Friday night against Roosevelt.

The Bulldogs weren't very sharp, but they still did enough to pull out a victory, winning 37-26 on homecoming night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.

The game featured many fumbles, penalties, dropped passes and missed assignments by both squads, but winning at this point was the most important thing according to Bulldog head coach Charlie Vickery.

"We had to win the game," said Vickery. "I told the kids, 'I'd rather play like we did and win, than play great and lose.' We can correct the mistakes we made tonight."

Throughout the game, Sikeston (5-2) appeared on the verge of blowing out its Class 5A counterparts. But the Bulldogs never could get much offense going against the fast, swarming Roosevelt defense.

The Rough Riders (4-3) were a completely different team than the one that went 1-9 last year.

"I said going in that they were much better," said Vickery. "They had three 300-pounders and they had some athletes out there. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, but we should've had a little more solid game than what we did. We expected them to be a very good team. They've got a lot of ability."

The Bulldogs only managed 159 yards of offense, but their special teams and defense were solid for most of the night.

The Bulldogs blocked two punts and tackled the punter for a loss on a bad snap. Sikeston also had three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

"I thought we played pretty good, but not consistent," said first-year Roosevelt head coach Sorrell Harvey. "We had too many breakdowns on our special teams. You take the two punts away they blocked and scored for touchdowns then we've got a tight ballgame."

As shaky as Sikeston was on offense, the Rough Riders were even worse.

Roosevelt lost 91 yards on bad snaps, knocking its total offense down to 115 yards. Even without the poor snaps, Sikeston held the Rough Riders to 35 yards rushing on 19 attempts.

"I thought the defense played extremely well the entire first half," said Vickery. "The second half we were a little sporadic, we let them throw the ball on us a little bit."

Once the Rough Riders started throwing the ball, they started moving the chains.

"We just made some adjustments at halftime," said Harvey. "We probably should've started throwing a little bit sooner. But our bread and butter has been the running game. We thought we could get that going but it didn't work out. We waited too long to get going."

The Rough Riders attempted 29 passes, but they completed just 12 and were intercepted three times.

Sikeston got the scoring going early, blocking a punt to set themselves up at the Rough Rider 17-yard line. Two plays later Lavar Morgan coasted into the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown. Jacob Priday's two-point conversion run made it 8-0 at the 9:53 mark.

After forcing another Rough Rider punt, the Bulldogs easily marched 64 yards in 10 plays capped by Drew Lawrence's 1-yard quarterback sneak. Andrew Lambert's extra point made it 15-0 at the 3:43 mark.

It appeared the rout was on as Roosevelt had its fourth straight three-and-out at the beginning of the second quarter. The snap on the punt was low and the Bulldogs tackled the punter before he could get it off, giving Sikeston the ball at the Rough Rider 26.

But three plays later, wide receiver Larry Newman fumbled, and Brian Jones picked it up and rambled 74 yards for the score. All of a sudden the Rough Riders were back in the game, trailing 15-6 at the 9:39 mark of the second quarter.

The Bulldogs were able to get a key touchdown before the half after Tori Rose intercepted a pass at the Sikeston 45-yard line with 4:24 left in the half.

Sikeston put together a 10-play drive, capped by Priday's 1-yard run with 37 seconds left. Lambert passed to Justin Freeman on the fake extra point to make the score 23-6 at halftime.

"We started out very well on both sides of the ball and we twice got on the board quickly -- probably too quick and too easily," said Vickery. "We got a big touchdown on them right before halftime and I think that was a big key."

But after that, Sikeston's offense was shut down the rest of the day.

Sikeston ran just six offensive plays the entire third quarter, but it was a successful quarter.

After Roosevelt's Rynell Garrett scored on a 9-yard run to make it 23-12, Sikeston's Nathan Eaves returned an interception 65 yards for a TD at the 5:19 mark. Lambert's PAT made it 30-12.

On the Rough Riders' next possession, Michael Colon blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for another touchdown. Lambert's PAT made the score 37-12 with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

"Special teams did an outstanding job in some areas and in other areas we did not play well," said Vickery. "We gave them too many yards on run-backs. But the punt block team worked real well."

Roosevelt tacked on two more scores in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Jason Cook found Darrell Thomas for a 14-yard score with 11:00 left and Cook found Karon Flenoid on a 30-yard pass play with 0:03 left in the game to keep the final score respectable.

The Rough Riders' top rusher was Terrell Jones, carrying three times for 16 yards. Cook completed 12-of-28 passes for 171 yards.

"They put eight in the box on us and they were coming in to stop the run," said Harvey. "Once we recognized that, of course we went to the air, but we were down by 27 points then. There were some battles but I thought Sikeston won the war in the trenches. I don't think my big guys up front did what they were supposed to do in the first half. I thought they had a pretty disciplined team. They should do alright in district play if can play with that intensity they had in the first half. I thought some of (the intensity) went away in the second half, but they've got a pretty good ballclub."

Sikeston was led in rushing by Morgan, who had 86 yards on 25 carries. Heath Hunter added 40 yards on nine carries.

"In the second half we weren't able to drive the ball at all because we never knew where they were going to line up," said Vickery. "They never lined up in the same spot twice. We're just going to have to pick that up and do a better job. We can correct our mistakes. As well as we played last week offensively, I know we're capable of doing it."

Roosevelt was whistled for 17 penalties for 107 yards. They fumbled seven times but didn't lose any. Sikeston fumbled four times and lost two.

"We kind of started playing sloppy like they were and we can't have that," said Vickery. "We got dinged around a little bit and that concerns me. I don't know how bad (Kevin) Keller (knee) or (Kyle) Duncan (calf) are injured. And then (Blake) DeWitt was having muscle spasms. We'll just have to check on them. We'll try to get them healthy and get ready to go."

Sikeston will open district play with Cape Central on Thursday at Houck Stadium at 7 p.m. Roosevelt will compete in 5A District 8 at CBC.