Sikeston football team sets district showdown with rout of Cape Central

Sikeston tames Tigers to set up district and conference showdown

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- For the third-straight year the Sikeston Bulldogs are in the playoffs.

With a 47-17 thrashing of Cape Central on Friday night at SPS Stadium, the Bulldogs set themselves up with a home showdown with Farmington on Thursday night with everything on the line.

The Bulldogs dominated every phase of the game against the Tigers, scoring touchdowns through the air, on the ground and on special teams while completely shutting down any semblance of offense that Cape Central could muster.

"I was a little concerned after some of the ballgames that we've been in the last few weeks -- worried about our concentration and our focus," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said. "Obviously we came ready to play tonight. We talked to our kids about it. We needed to find out what we're made of and step up and show some people. When the good teams are there, you've got to step up and be able to play."

The Bulldogs (8-1) were never challenged, jumping out to a 34-7 halftime lead and holding a 47-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers did not complete a pass until the fourth quarter. Other than a 40-yard run by Jacob Campbell in the second quarter, the Tigers did not have a run longer than eight yards all night long until the final minute of the game.

"Defensively we gave up a couple big plays, but they've got some athletes that are going to make those big plays," Gibbs said. "Overall I just thought it was a great effort in all three phases of the game."

While Sikeston's bread and butter is the running game, Cape Central (5-3) dared the Bulldogs to beat them through the air.

Sikeston senior quarterback David Foster and his receiving corps were up to the challenge. Foster threw for a career-high 248 yards with three touchdowns on a perfect 8 for 8 passing.

"He really did a nice job tonight doing what we need him to do," Gibbs said of Foster. "Managing things, putting the ball where it's supposed to be, reading the routes right. He just had a great game. He's come a long way in the nine weeks of being our starter. Hopefully he can keep improving along with the rest of the team."

Forcing the Bulldogs to go to the air was a gamble that Cape Central coach Nathan Norman said they were willing to take.

"We wanted to make them as one-dimensional as possible -- we were going to try to stop the run," Norman said. "Not that we stopped their run, but we did slow them down early with it and they started realizing that we have some weakness out here in the secondary and they beat us with the pass. They found out that they were just better than us and were able to do the passing game."

Sikeston opened the game with a 12-play drive that ended on downs at the Tiger 7-yard line.

It proved to be the only time that Cape Central stopped the Bulldogs' first string offense.

On Sikeston's second series, the Bulldogs just needed one play as Foster hit Markeith Bratcher on a screen for a 48-yard touchdown.

It was the beginning of Foster's big night, but he remained humble after the game, deflecting the praise for his teammates.

"I didn't do anything special," Foster said. "I just threw the ball and they caught it and made all the plays afterwards. It's not like we were just chucking it deep every play. They were making plays after the catch. (Cape Central) keyed really hard on our run game so it just left a lot of openings in the passing game."

On Sikeston's third series, Bulldog running back James Watson gave the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead on a 3-yard plunge with 1:12 left in the first quarter.

Following a Cape Central punt, Sikeston extended the lead to 21-0 on Foster's 4-yard TD toss to Spenser Clark at the 8:42 mark of the second quarter.

Cape Central's first sign of life on offense came on its ensuing drive as Campbell broke off a 40-yard run. Watson was able to track him down from behind to make a touchdown saving tackle, but the run eventually set up a 1-yard TD plunge by Campbell to cut Sikeston's lead to 21-7 with 7:07 left.

Sikeston wasted no time in answering on its next drive as Kyland Gross cut to the outside for a 65-yard TD run on its second play to extend the lead to 28-7.

With 4:33 left in the quarter, Sikeston's Nick Nichols blocked a punt and recovered it, returning it four yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 34-7, which is where it would stand heading into halftime.

The Tigers paid a dear price right before the half, though, as starting quarterback Christian Cavaness, rolling out for a pass, was knocked out of the game with a mild concussion on a crushing blow by Nichols.

"Not to make excuses, but our quarterback goes out of the game and our starting tailback couldn't go, and that's tough," Norman said. "It's tough to overcome that for us. We moved the ball at times, but couldn't get a good pattern going."

The Tigers put together a 16-play drive to start the third quarter, but it ended in no points as backup quarterback Dennis Vinson was tackled at the 1-yard line on 4th-and-4.

The Bulldogs took advantage as Foster found a wide open Gross for a 93-yard touchdown, the longest play of the season for Sikeston and one of the longest pass plays in Bulldog history.

"(Gross has) great speed," Norman said. "It's hard to tackle him in open space and that killed us tonight. He's like a waterbug and he made us look foolish at times."

Gross finished with 235 all purpose yards, including three receptions for a career high 166 yards.

On Cape Central's next drive, its punting woes continued as the snap sailed over the punter's head. Bratcher recovered the fumble in the end zone for the touchdown to extend the lead to 47-7, putting the mercy clock in motion.

"The kicking game killed us," Norman said. "It made us look bad and unprepared."

The Tigers scored 10 points in the final 2:32 of the game with a safety and a 30-yard TD reception by Campbell to make the score a little more respectable.

Campbell finished with 104 yards rushing and 81 yards receiving for the Tigers.

"They outplayed our kids tonight and their coaches outcoached us," Norman said. "That's the bottom line. No sugar-coating it. They're a better football team than us. The kids played hard but we got beat by a better team."

It's Sikeston's fifth-straight win over the Tigers, which also eliminates them from playoff contention.

"It feels good, but it's just another game though," Foster said. "We've still got one more to go. A district title's more important than this one game. This is just one step along the way."

Now Sikeston will set its sights on Farmington.

At stake will be a SEMO Conference North championship as well as the Class 4, District 1 title.

Both teams will come into the game with 8-1 records and both are assured of a playoff spot, but a victory will give the Bulldogs home field advantage for the playoffs.

"We talked at the first of the year, 'guys you need to understand, we may not start off as fast as we've started in the past, but if you'll work and do the things we want you to do, we feel like we can be in the money at the end of it,'" Gibbs said. "We've been blessed and haven't had a lot of injuries and here we are with the last game of the year and a chance to win a district championship. It's on our field and we're certainly looking forward to it."

Notes: According to the "Dogs" book by Dale Forbis, the longest pass play in Sikeston history was 94 yards in 1986 by Jimmy Loflin to Robin Butler.

Cape Central 0 7 0 10 -- 17

Sikeston 14 20 13 0 -- 47

First Quarter

S -- Markeith Bratcher 48 pass from David Foster (Hunter Williams kick), 3:34

S -- James Watson 3 run (Williams kick), 1:12

Second Quarter

S -- Spenser Clark 4 pass from Foster (Williams kick), 8:42

C -- Jacob Campbell 1 run (Calvin Lovig kick), 7:07

S -- Kyland Gross 65 run (Williams kick), 6:19

S -- Nick Nichols 4 return of blocked punt (kick blocked), 4:33

Third Quarter

S -- Gross 93 pass from Foster (run failed), 3:22

S -- Bratcher fumble recovery in end zone (Williams kick), 1:09

Fourth Quarter

C -- Safety, 2:32

C -- Campbell 30 pass from Dennis Vinson (Campbell run), 0:45

TEAM STATISTICS

C S

First downs 12 9

Total yards 242 391

Rushes-yards 64-242 28-143

Passing yards 82 248

Comp.-Att.-Int. 3-10-0 8-8-0

Punts 4-25.0 1-32.0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-28 6-54

Turnovers 2 0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Cape Central -- Jacob Campbell 20-104, Eric Evans 8-30, Austin Martin 3-15, Mikey Jones 12-15, Christian Cavaness 5-13, Chris Martin 1-4, Dennis Vinson 4-(-6), Team 1-(-15). Sikeston -- James Watson 16-73, Kyland Gross 3-66, David Foster 1-9, Chris Word 2-7, Ray Council 1-(-2), Pat Gross 1-(-3), Team 3-(-6).

Passing

Cape Central -- Dennis Vinson 3-7-0 82, Christian Cavaness 0-3-0 0. Sikeston -- David Foster 8-8-0 248.

Receiving

Cape Central -- Jacob Campbell 2-81, Garan Evans 1-1. Sikeston -- Kyland Gross 3-166, Markeith Bratcher 1-48, Keldon Warfield 3-30, Spenser Clark 1-4.