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Bulldogs showcase team
SIKESTON - The Annual Sikeston Bulldog Red and Black Scrimmage, or what is commonly called the "soap game," was held on Friday night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.
The scrimmage is used to give fans their first glimpse of the football team while also giving the players a chance to play under the lights for the first time in a game-type situation.
No official score was kept as the coaches used the controlled scrimmage to not only instruct players, but also gave some new referees a chance to get their feet wet in a game-type situation.
There were only two touchdowns scored in the game, one being a Michael Geralds 30-yard touchdown run and the other a 36-yard run by Robbie Howard.
But the most important final outcome of the night was zero injuries to any Bulldog players.
"We're pleased with our effort -- we saw some good things," said Sikeston coach Jerry Dement. "We obviously made a lot of mistakes. The big thing is we had no injuries and that's always big. You get banged up the first time you go full-speed in a long scrimmage and we came away okay in that area. We saw some kids do some nice things. We came away pretty positive about it. Obviously we'll look at the film and see what we did good and bad. We're thankful for the number of people that turned out. I thought we had a nice crowd there. The kids had some good enthusiasm and they did some good things."
It took the Red team eight plays to score on their opening drive. Geralds took the handoff, bounced left and broke a tackle and out-raced the rest of the defenders for the 30-yard touchdown.
There weren't any other scores until another long drive set up Howard's 36-
yard tackle trap jaunt, wide open to the end zone.
The game also gave Dement a chance to evaluate his two quarterbacks, junior Joey Williams and sophomore Chase Ferrell.
Ferrell completed 5-of-10 passes for 80 yards, but with two interceptions. Williams was 2-for-8 passing for 17 yards, but both quarterbacks had passes dropped.
"Without grading the film I can't really say, but I thought they both had a pretty decent night," said Dement. "They're in a good competition for the starting spot. This will make them both better with them competing against each other. They both had good moments and bad moments. It was a typical preseason scrimmage and we're just happy we didn't come out of it banged up."
Sophomore Brandon Wright had the biggest play of the day, a 53-yard reception from Ferrell.
Acie Dixon and Adrian Douglas each had pass receptions of 13 and 12 yards, respectively, from their fullback position.
Geralds led all rushers with 65 yards on just three carries. Douglas had 32 yards on two carries and Dixon had 31 yards on two carries. B.J. Green had 12 yards on two carries.
The Bulldogs will host the jamboree scrimmage which will include East Prairie, New Madrid County Central and Jennings High Schools.
Sikeston will open the season on Sept. 2 when they host Caruthersville at 7 p.m.