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Bulldogs take down Saxony 4-1 to end regular season
SIKESTON -- In their final tuneup before the postseason the Sikeston Bulldogs continued their recent hot streak picking up their fourth-straight win over visiting Saxony Lutheran Monday afternoon.
Celebrating senior night, Sikeston got the go-ahead goal from senior Layton Jones midway through the first and never looked back, rolling to a 4-1 final.
"It's great," Jones said of the win. "It's our last home game unless we're fortunate to make it (deep) in the postseason. It feel good to come out and get a win tonight."
Sikeston was forced to fight from behind for a short time when the Crusaders took advantage of a free kick near the midway point of the first half.
Sophomore Sam Cox responded soon after, however, with the first of two goals on the night to knot the game up. Cox aided on the passing end with 14:45 left before the break when he found Jones for a go-ahead goal that proved to be the deciding factor.
"It was a great pass by Sam," Jones said. "I just laid it off and beat the keeper inside post."
The Bulldogs limited Saxony's chances all second half while continuing to add to their lead.
Just eight minutes after the break, Cox found the net for his second score as he took it up the right side of the box before finishing a few feet in front of the net.
Only 18 minutes remained when senior Audie Hay sent a pass into junior Connor Merideth who avoided traffic in front of the net to put his team ahead for a decisive 4-1 advantage.
"I knew we'd get chances, I just didn't know what we'd be able to do with them," Sikeston head coach Gabe Dement said. "Obviously we were able to put a few in. Putting Connor at center-mid helped us with better weight on his passing and better ball control. He was calm on the ball I think."
Cox finished the contest with a pair of goals and an assist to lead the way with both Cox and Merideth scoring as well. Hay and fellow senior Cody Rodgers contributed an assist each.
After hovering just below .500 most of the season, Sikeston's four-game winning streak to end the regular season leaves them at 12-10-1.
The Bulldogs will open up the Class 3, District 1 tournament Tuesday when they take on tournament host Farmington (10-8) at 7 p.m. If they can get past the Knights they'll get the chance to face the winner of Poplar Bluff (9-10-1) and Cape Central (4-16) for the championship Thursday at 6 p.m.
"Our first round game against Farmington could go either way," Dement said. "When we played there we went up 2-0, but they came storming back and we couldn't stop them.
"Our district could be won by any of the four teams. It's going to come down to which team puts two good games together in a row and who wants to fight harder because it's going to be a battle."