Sikeston football team holds off Farmington

Sikeston's Ernest Fobbs stiff arms Farmington's Hunter Corcoran on Friday night at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. (David Jenkins photo)

SIKESTON -- All season long, Sikeston's defense has garnered the headlines.

In a tight game on a rainy Friday night against SEMO North Conference foe Farmington, the Bulldogs needed that defense to live up to its reputation.

In a 21-14 home victory over the Knights, the Sikeston's defense came through with the biggest plays of the game with less than a minute left on the clock to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Farmington (1-3) had taken possession after a huge punt return set them up at their own 40-yard line with 1:15 left and no timeouts left.

Knights quarterback Justin Boehm scrambled 13 yards for a first down on the first play of the drive. He then ran for seven yards and threw an incomplete pass to face a 3rd and 3 at the Sikeston 40.

With the clock ticking down, Sikeston's defense dug in, stopping Boehm on two consecutive runs for no gain to take over possession with nine seconds left and close out the win.

"They stepped up there at the end," Sikeston coach Kent Gibbs said of his defense. "They got the stop that we needed to have. It's always good to win no matter how you do it."

Earlier it didn't appear Farmington would even be in a position to tie or win the game.

Sikeston took a 21-7 lead with 7:08 left in the third quarter after a Chase Davis 5-yard run and Earnest Fobbs' two-point conversion.

Sikeston's defense then stopped the Knights on downs and forced two interceptions to thwart two other drives.

But the Bulldog offense could not take advantage.

Following a Shawn Blunt interception that he returned 12 yards to the Farmington 31, Sikeston blew a big scoring opportunity and a chance to seal the game as the ensuing drive ended on downs at the 5-yard line.

Earlier in the game, Sikeston had a drive stall out in the red zone at the 8-yard line.

"We're inside the red zone two times and we left scores on the table," Gibbs said. "I think anytime you do that with a team that moves the football well, you risk losing the game."

Farmington was able to get out of the shadow of its own end zone and had a promising drive going, but Boehm threw another interception, this time to Reese Porter who returned it 34 yards out of the end zone.

Sikeston was able to run some valuable time off the clock, but they were forced to punt with 4:46 left in the game.

This time Farmington took advantage with Boehm coming alive with his arms and legs. He directed the Knights 71 yards in 10 plays, capped by his own 1-yard plunge into the end zone to cut the Bulldog lead to 21-14 with 1:54 left.

After a failed onside kick, Farmington used all three of its timeouts and got a key defensive stop, forcing the Bulldogs to punt once again.

Sophomore punter Nathan Hampton sent a beautiful pooch kick that settled at the 7-yard line, but Sikeston's players failed to cover the ball.

Farmington's Chris Smith alertedly scooped it up and returned it 33 yards to the Knight 40 to set up the final sequence of events.

"The thing was the Sikeston man covering the football -- you know we teach our kids to pick up the football and hand it to the ref -- he just stood around there," first year Farmington coach Erik Kruppe said. "At that point in the game with a minute left and the ball about the 5-yard-line, I don't fault him for making that decision. A play needed to be made and he stepped up and tried to make one."

Heading into the fourth quarter, Sikeston's defense had held Farmington to 141 yards of offense.

But the Knights came alive in the fourth quarter, gaining 197 yards in the final 10 minutes of the game to finish with 338 total yards.

The most yards Sikeston had allowed in a game prior to Friday night's contest was 67 in the season opener to Charleston.

The Bulldogs had only allowed 153 yards in the first three games combined.

"I don't like saying it, but I honestly feel like we got tired," Gibbs said. "I think we got tired maybe on both sides of the ball. Not making any excuses, but we've got a lot of kids out on defense. We've got a lot of kids in different positions, doing different things with them and running a lot of different stuff. You put all that together and the fact that Farmington didn't quit and they kept fighting back, that's the kind of finish you're going to get sometimes."

Boehm finished with 110 yards rushing on 29 carries. He threw for 180 yards, completing 14 of 30 passes.

"He's a senior for us and we count on him for many things," Kruppe said of his quarterback.

After a scoreless first quarter, Farmington's defense stopped the Bulldogs on downs at the 8-yard line.

Boehm needed just six plays to cover 92 yards, eventually scoring on 5-6, 136-pound running back Brayden Bohn's 19-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 10:09 left in the first half.

Following a 51-yard kick return by Ray Council, Sikeston got a boost with the return of senior running back Chris Word, who has been out of action with an ankle injury.

On his first carry in seven quarters of football, Word sprung for a 27-yard run, the longest run from scrimmage the Bulldogs have had since Word's own 27-yarder in the season opener.

Two plays later, Word scored from five yards out to tie the game at 7-7.

Word, who is also a standout defensive lineman, saw limited action on both sides of the ball, but he still finished with 85 yards rushing on 12 carries.

"He's still got a long ways to go before he's 100 percent," Gibbs said of Word. "He's going to have to learn to play with the ankle he's got because he probably isn't going to be 100 percent for a good while. He went out there and did the best he could. We gave him some rest. We put Earnest in there and I thought he did a good job of running the ball. I probably need to do a little bit better job of getting Earnest and him involved and Courtney Hawkins back involved with the offense."

After forcing a punt by the Knights, Sikeston took possession at midfield and eventually scored on Porter's 24-yard option keeper up the gut to take a 13-7 lead with 4:09 left in the half, which is where things stood until Davis' run in the third quarter.

Sikeston finished with 289 yards of offense, with 263 of that coming on the ground.

However, the Bulldogs only had 108 yards of offense in the second half.

"I probably got a little conservative when we were up two scores," Gibbs admitted. "With the conditions and the lead there in the second half we didn't throw the ball. Maybe we could've, but the one thing I probably would have done without looking at the film is run some of our outside stuff a little bit more than we did."

Porter only attempted five passes, completing two for 26 yards. But he led the team with 86 yards rushing on 20 carries. Fobbs added 66 yards on 11 carries.

"They know who they are," Kruppe said of Sikeston. "No. 20 (Word) goes down and they still got other kids they can insert there. They know what their bread and butter is, and that's just pound, pound, pound on the ground. They know who they are and they do a good job of playing to that."

Sikeston's victory marks its fourth in the last five meetings with Farmington.

The Bulldogs will travel to Poplar Bluff next Friday.

Second Quarter

F -- Brayden Bohn 19 run (Brayden Krause kick), 10:09

S -- Chris Word 5 run (Nathan Hampton kick), 9:05

S -- Reese Porter 24 run (kick blocked), 4:09

Third Quarter

S -- Chase Davis 5 run (Earnest Fobbs run), 7:08

Fourth quarter

F -- Justin Boehm 1 run (Krause kick), 1:54

Rushing -- Farmington, Justin Boehm 29-110, Brayden Bohn 8-63, Garret Duncan 3-0, Team 3-(-15). Sikeston, Reese Porter 20-86, Chris Word 12-85, Earnest Fobbs 11-66, Ray Council 5-21, Chase Davis 2-6, Team 1-(-1).

Passing -- Farmington, Justin Boehm 14-30-2 180. Sikeston, Reese Porter 2-5-0 26.

Receiving -- Farmington, Trevor Keith 2-60, Conner Forsythe 2-55, D.J. Hardy 3-28, John Barr 3-20, Quin McIntosh 2-12, Hunter Corcoran 1-3, Brendan Ferris 1-2. Sikeston, Chase Davis 1-16, Austin Lott 1-10.